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

[aardvark]

> From: "Joel D Canfield" <joel at spinhead.com>
>
> 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.

in the example, i believe he said he used BBEdit for years before 
paying for it... that is certainly longer than the shareware trial 
period...  if you nuke it before the shareware trial period expires, 
cool... if not, well, even if you nuke it, you still breached the license 
agreement... qualify it how you want, but you breached it in that 
case...

> 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.

using it from the time of download to the time the license says you 
have to pay for it is demo/shareware... using it after that is a 
violation of the license, and by my book, theft...