Shareware/demoware 'theft' (was RE: [thelist] Org Chart?)

Joel D Canfield joel at spinhead.com
Thu May 3 01:44:22 CDT 2001


I'm also a little curious about the 'pilfering it up to that point' comment,
Aardvark. As I mentioned in my message offline, my company spent more than
$2 MILLION US last year on software for in-house use. However, as the
Applications Manager, I'm not authorizing 50 copies of something I've never
tried when there's a demo version at the website, or if they promote it
themselves as 'shareware.' I download it, use it, and if it works as
advertised and meets our needs, we buy it. If not, we nuke it.

Isn't the use from the time of download until the time of purchase the whole
purpose of the demo/shareware? Were you referring to using the software for
years before paying? Was the suggestion made that someone used
shareware/demoware for profit, then didn't buy it? I'm missing something.

Joel at spinhead.com


-----Original Message-----
From: thelist-admin at lists.evolt.org
[mailto:thelist-admin at lists.evolt.org]On Behalf Of Andrew Forsberg
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2001 11:09 PM
To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
Subject: Re: [thelist] Org Chart?


Aardvark said (regarding using BBEdit Lite):
>still pilfering it up to that point...  sure, you can justify it by saying
>it made you buy it, but you stole it to begin with (i guess it's your
>own fault)...

Deke said (regarding using shareware in general):
>Donating your *own* services to a non-profit organizations is admirable.
>Stealing shareware on their behalf is not.

Perhaps someone could clarify some US law for me.

Where I come from (sure, New Zealand is way out in the sticks, and we
sleep with sheep to keep warm, but still) theft is unlawfully taking
something that belongs to someone else (an individual or
organization). I know the United States is a weird and wonderful
place (well <cough/>), but since when did abiding by the shareware /
trial license for a software package constitute theft?

When I was a grad student BBEdit Lite was a life saver -- it sure bet
the hell out of simpletext -- nowadays the full version of BBEdit is
a steal (sorry) at the price. But, then, I'm nothing like a student
anymore and I earn ten times the amount I used to. Does this make
sense? or am I a thief too?
--
Andrew Forsberg
http://www.thepander.co.nz/






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