Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
But sooner or later the item is going to end up in the hands of someone who would otherwise have bought the product. That's inevitable. There's also the fundamental fact that it's just plain wrong to download musc, books, movies, or whatever, that you haven't paid for. Leaving the law aside, it's just plain morally wrong. Surely you agree with that, don't you?
|
Not necessarily. How is it wrong if you download the e-book of a paper book you own? In the US, with fair Use, it would appear not to be. What happens if you buy a DRM'ed ebook, the publisher goes out of business, and you download an "illegal" copy of that book? I "own" several ebooks from the 90s whose publishers/distributors are out of business.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
[*]If 1000 libraries have a book available for loan, that's 1000 book sales for the author. If 1000 people download a book from the internet, that's ZERO sales for the author.
|
Well, not many libraries buy 1000 copies of a book. And you might consider that if each book is checked out 25 times per year, that is 25,000 total borrowings, or, by this same faulty logic, 24,000 lost sales.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
No, the reason Microsoft succeeded was because IBM licenced their o/s for the IBM PC, which sold in vast numbers to businesses. Before that, Microsoft's primary business had been selling ROM BASIC for personal computers.
|
Not the case at all. First of all, IBM licensed DOS, not Windows, and there were competitors back in those days like DR-DOS, so M$ did not have anywhere near total market share. What gavce them market dominance in PC OS's was the fact that many, many people pirated Windows 3.1, making it the most popular OS on the desktop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Sorry, but the fact that it happens doesn't make it "right" or "acceptable". Using someone else's intellectual property without paying for it is just plain WRONG. Perhaps you'd feel differently if that's how you made your living.
|
I didn't state in any post that it was okay to use intellectual property without paying for it. I did say that I think it is wrong to be charged multiple times for using the same intellectual property- that if I buy a paper book, I do have rights (ethically and under US law) to possess an e-readable copy of that same intellectual property.