Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
But, with respect, does that mean that it should not be possible for me to make a living writing commercial software? There's nothing wrong with wanting make a living from one's "creative skills", and writing software happens to be where my skills lie. I don't think anyone should have the right to use my software without paying for it. The "nobody's lost out because I wouldn't have bought it anyway" argument for piracy is completely fallacious. Software gets passed from A to B to C - sooner or later it ends up with someone who would have bought it.
What pisses me off more than anything is not people who pirate it, but people who duplicate it and sell multiple copies at a low price on eBay. That is a act of completely cynical criminal profiteering done solely for the purpose of profit.
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I don't think anyone in the free or open source movement wants to stop anyone from writing commercial software and making money from it. They don't even care if you use their copyrighted work to make a living- look at Red Hat, Novell, etc.
But I do think several things are going to change in regards to commercial software. Pricing for one; Microsoft's dreams of conquering the world with windows just aren't working. Alot of computer users across the world simply can't afford their prices. Individuals and governments are moving towards free software, and will continue to do so. I see commercial software as becoming more and more of a niche product. Specialized software, requiring support, will remain commercial (accounting systems, etc.) but stuff like office suites and os's will be free.
As for eBay, I can well believe it. Don't you have any recourse against sellers there? The few times I have bought items from eBay, I have put the cash in escrow when ordering. Luckily I had, because two of the items I bought were not what was advertised. Also, you might try some type of net activation to unlock your software. Alot of other smaller developers have had to go to this.