it is a tricky area

Personally I see that;

America has alot of money, america can therefore sell to big bussiness cheaper than others, therefore bussiness all too often chooses the cheaper option, therefore you sit & use American software.

If I was offered a fair choice I may take it, but seeing as there are only a handfull of viable choices(bearing in mind support from your local isp), then who cares?

I can though at the moment connect via "any method that will work" as quoted by my isp(not exact quote), but the impracticalities are insurmountable, then it's like oh I can't shop online at M&S, Asda & so certian mechanisms are in place which make the ideal of being able to choose a particular piece of software not worth the hassle unless you have the money, ie:- unless you are Bill Gates, ie:- we truly often have very little choice as to what software we use.

Sorry but as far as I'm concerned software piracy is fair game, until such a time as true options are offered.

I know that it isnt all "doom & gloom", I know that there are positive signs out there, but I have been made to make specific choices due to the unfair monopolising of certain enterprises.

Have I got it all arse about face?

shaktiman

I feel obliged to add that I do not knowingly have any pirated software, & have found some good software on the mac which I have paid for.

I think the idea I am putting forward is that do we have a free choice or are we dictated to by a certain economic market.

One thing which makes me very very angry is supermarket advertising, especially a slogan which has become popular over here(UK);

"Why pay more"

Well I can say that somebody who is on low wages dosn't pay more because they don't have more, there isn't allways a choice for people.

& I can personally verify that Marks & Spencer often charge more than other shops for food, but that it is worth paying if you can afford it because the food is of a much better quality.

shaktiman

Also, it's a good way to 'try before you buy' for those where trial versions don't exist.

THEY SHOULD MAKE VERSIONS FOR DIFFERENT PLATFORMS THE SAME, ie:- when you buy one you get them all.

Now I was considering buying MagicMac(at least before my love affair with the mac got carried away), but I really did want, Magic, MagicMac & MagicPC, but no they only sell the versions seperatley, well they have lost out on a sale!

I think some software is made so as to provide you with availability across different platforms.

shaktiman

when you get XP Pro, the liscence says "1-2 processors"

This leads one to believe, that I can possibly run it on 2 uniprocessor machines?

quote:

---

Software piracy,

it is a tricky area

Personally I see that;

America has alot of money, america can therefore sell to big bussiness cheaper than others, therefore bussiness all too often chooses the cheaper option, therefore you sit & use American software.

---

I would add that many consumers are also price sensitive -- the "why pay more" phenomenon. I would also add that too many workers in too many companies look for the "safe" choice when buying stuff for their companies. There was an old saying that "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" that no should read "nobody ever got fired for buying Intel/Microsoft/Dell" Can you imagine some arse-licking corporate toady trying to convince the boss to buy Apple computers?

The economics of software development definitely encourages success to the successful. Once a dominant company arises, its hard for anyone to displace them. The result is that Microsoft rakes in huge profits, while smaller hardware software companies (like Apple) struggle and go out of business. People complain that Apple's stuff is too expensive, but don't realize that Apple's stuff costs a bit more because not enough people are buying Apple. "Why pay more" is the reason why everyone ends up being forced to buy cheap crap.

quote:

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If I was offered a fair choice I may take it, but seeing as there are only a handfull of viable choices(bearing in mind support from your local isp), then who cares?

I can though at the moment connect via "any method that will work" as quoted by my isp(not exact quote), but the impracticalities are insurmountable, then it's like oh I can't shop online at M&S, Asda & so certian mechanisms are in place which make the ideal of being able to choose a particular piece of software not worth the hassle unless you have the money, ie:- unless you are Bill Gates, ie:- we truly often have very little choice as to what software we use.

---

I see what you mean about Marks & Spenser -- went there with iCab and got a nasty page telling me to use Internet Exploder. So I just changed the Preferences:Network:Identity of iCab to be "Mozilla 4.0 (MSIE 5.0)" and now I can shop M&S. Bad news is that, even though I can now shop M&S, I am further reinforcing Marks and Spenser's belief that everyone is using IE.

But I do see your point -- everyone is developing websites and software that only work for the most popular, lowest-common-denominator hardware/software.

quote:

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Sorry but as far as I'm concerned software piracy is fair game, until such a time as true options are offered.

---

If one really wants to support true options, than one should buy what one considers good software. I am glad to hear that you own legal copies of stuff. Using a pirated copy of M$ products takes money not just from the much maligned M$ empire of evil, it also means less revenue for smaller alternative software providers. (Lets face it, if we did not use Word and Excel, we would be forced to buy somebody elses package) The only way that M$ will be defeated is if people stop using their software - even using M$ software is helping M$ maintain dominance.

quote:

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I know that it isnt all "doom & gloom", I know that there are positive signs out there, but I have been made to make specific choices due to the unfair monopolising of certain enterprises.

Have I got it all arse about face?

shaktiman

---

No, you don't have it all arse about face. I agree that it is very frustrating to be forced to buy and use bloated crapware because everyone else is buying/using bloated crapware.

So, Buy Apple! Buy alternative software! DONT USE MICROSOFT ANYTHING! If we don't pay more now, we won't have any choice later.

Have as good a day as can be had in these days of M$ dominance.

G4From128k

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