Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Part of me can't believe I'm discussing the abstract philosophical justifications of ownership and theft! Is this really so hard to understand in a civilized world today? How do you think we became a civilized world? By setting agreements to behave like civilized people, so we could all trust each other, cooperate, and make a world that isn't run by marauding huns.
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I am wondering when the people in the US- us- stopped being marauding huns. the US ignored copyright laws for years, our publishers made money ripping off British and European books and printing them for consumption here. Now the Chinese and others are doing the same to us. Surprising? Not really. Doesn't surprise me that M$ sales are dismal in other parts of the world compared to the US either.
Seems to me that ethics and morality aren't really the motivating forces behind many of the arguments I hear or the policies that are instituted. It's greed, plain and simple.
It's like the idiots that have tried (and failed) to print public domain e-books and charge $5 or $6 for them- didn't work becaause they priced themselves out of a market. Same with the e-book sellers that think DRM will allow them to sell for a few bucks less than the hardcover version- their greed results in few sales.
People in any business need to look at WHAT IS rather than at WHAT SHOULD BE.