Now the reason for this is obvious - they (the software houses) don't want people to be able to copy the disks because of the threat of piracy. CD writers are cheap and common place and it would be easy for a group of people to 'share' a piece of software. A half dozen friends sharing one licensed copy means that the software houses lose out on those five additional licenses.
I can accept this and I don't think it is unreasonable that software houses want to protect their investments and to look after their business. However, there are some things that I find unacceptable with the software industry that is unlike other industries. For example: If you bought a car would YOU be expected to "test" it to find out if there are any problems with it? If it were defective, you would expect your money back. Not so with the software houses.
It is not uncommon for software houses to expect their users to test their software for them. Armies of beta testers try out software (like Windows) before it is released. Even then, once the likes of you and me get hold of it, we find problems very quickly which often result in rapid patches being released for download.
Now you may sit there and think - yeah, OK, but if a program crashes it's a little less drastic than when a car crashes - you can't compare the two. Is that really the case? What about a company that uses computers in the manufacture or design of products that we use - products that if defective could cause loss of life? How about a company's finance system producing incorrect answers causing the company to go under? What's the impact on the people that lose their jobs and livelihood?
