Quote:
Originally Posted by braver
The naysayers here remind me of the Soviet "kolkhozniki" -- the rather backward peasants collectivized by Stalin in the 1930s. They hated the middle-class "kulaks" more than anybody else, and their most desired state was complete sameness. Anybody "better off" was suspicious. All those nonsensical references to "so if I owned a VHS should I also get a Blu-ray" deserve the same response: back to the kolkhoz, comrade!
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Well, I actually come from a country (Poland) which had some "kolhoz" population, although minor compared to Soviet Union, and you may be closer to the mark than you think. The "kolhoz" mentality is appalling, as if the kolhoz people were a different human species - we actually call it "homo sovieticus". It includes two important features: 1) everyone who tries to be better off than the rest is indeed suspicious; 2) respect for any kind of property, be it private or collective, is tiny or non-existent. Together with this disrespect for property goes lack of respect for work - since their own labour is hardly worth anything, they treat all work likewise.
I guess you might say that both sides in this thread reflect a bit of that kolhoz mentality: the argument that you can't claim your right to something non-standard (in this case a cheaper e-book because you own a pbook) reflects the egalitarian attitude. But, on the other hand, the argument that you should be "given" an ebook because you own a pbook reflects lack of recognition of somebody's work - in this case the companies that create and manage the ebooks.
I believe there is some middle ground, so if neither argument is taken to the extreme, both can be valid. In my opinion, the customer should be able to ask for a reduction in price for an ebook if they have a proof of purchase for the pbook in any form (a receipt, CC statement, on-line purchase recorded in a database etc.)