[thelist] software theft (was: dw4)

John Dowdell jdowdell at macromedia.com
Wed Feb 20 19:38:01 CST 2002


> But the large software developing companies do not concern
> about this bad thing (piracy)....

Well, actually, we do care when our work is stolen. There's an entire group
inside Macromedia which prosecutes such software theft. I know we don't
catch all of it, particularly in parts of the world where a larger
proportion of society is outside the legal marketplace, but as people and
communities become more invested in the larger society the benefits of
going legit become stronger.

With recent layoffs through the tech field, it's really easy to want people
who make money off our efforts to honestly compensate us for those efforts.
Some of my friends who used to work here are without jobs now, and if....

Nothing personal here... Macromedia and other companies do prosecute
theft-of-services, that's all.


On a slight side topic, my personal opinion is that you'd have to be some
type of idiot to load known-criminal executables on your own computer these
days... making the assumption that some purveyor is evil enough to rip
someone else off, but is so moral that they wouldn't install a trapdoor
onto some program they slip you, just seems like a braindead assumption to
make. That's my personal take, anyway, and it's obvious that some still
believe it safe.


> [My religion tells me] "Doubt is a very bad thing. Don't ever do it".

Heh-heh, I find that funny... you can't *ever* doubt, even just a little?
What would happen if you did?

That reminds me of people who say you should always doubt everything,
except their advice about doubting.... ;-)

"Doubt usefully, and be smart and kind about it," that's closer to my own
philosophy. But I'm getting even more off-topic.....


<tip>
  Patrick Cooney offers a very readable intro to web services:
  http://www.alistapart.com/stories/webservices/
</tip>


jd





John Dowdell, Macromedia Tech Support, San Francisco CA US
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