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» Dandy_Peacemaker - Software Piracy

I fully agree with your article. But when I remember the time of my vocational training as a CAD-Organizer and the following period of unemployment (7 years!), when I had very little (for not to say nearly no) money to spend, I was very glad to have my Amiga; because I found it quite easy to learn UNIX, MS-DOS and MsWindows. I must admit (shame on me!) that nearly none of the soft I used was legal stuff; but although I had no good feeling with that I was glad to have some soft to learn more about computing. Otherwise - and that´s a fact - I wouldn´t have been able to keep my knowledge kind of up to date. I really feel sorry that I had no other choice back in the old days. Now the things have changed. I got a good job, which is well paid. Today I BUY every Software I use. Today i have an PPC A4000; few weeks ago I bought a Viper 520 Turboboard for my good, old A500 and gave it to my daughters husband, who is currently unemployed but very interested in computing. I give him old versions of my offically bought software or buy it new for him.
No doubt - software piracy is a very bad thing - but let´s keep in mind that there are quite a lot of people outside who have nearly no money and want/must learn about computing to get a chance to get a good job one day. They decided to have an Amiga, because it IS the most suitable, affordable machine to learn about computing, even about other platforms(=> emulators). So if someone decides to use an Amiga, it´s quite clear that he doesn´t have the money to buy a PC and a Unixmachine and an Mac and so on. And if you are short of money, the temptation to use pirate stuff is very big.
Today the situation is better as in 1988 (PD, shareware and so on), we should gather all our strength to support such users legally. My idea was: If I give someone an old Amiga for learning purpose, this person has an affordable, multilateral system (maybe not up to date, but still good enough) and the community got an new member! What do you think about it?

regards

Dandy

-- posted by Dandy_Peacemaker

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» MetalJoe - Piracy Issues

Hi Dandy,

Well, at least you buy all your Amiga software legitimately nowadays - particularly since piracy is really damaging the Amiga quite severely these days.

However, while I agree with you that pirated software does allow people the chance to discover computers, there really is no excuse. It is theft after all - I'm sure most people wouldn't help themselves to the contents of their local shops if they don't have the money to pay for it. Same thing, electronic or not. Back in my student days, I relied heavily upon public domain and shareware to support my need for software - the Amiga has always had some great software available for little or no cost. Make use of Aminet!

However, those without the money can't just rely on this area and so there is an untapped market that piracy is unfortunately capitalising on. There are a lot of older Amigas out there, either tucked away in shelves or on a desk next to a more often used Amiga A4000 or A1200. Yet they still have potential!

You're right.. we need to come up with someway to find these machines, refurbish them, give them software (what ever happens to older versions of software?) and give them to people who would appreciate them - including schools, charities, non-profit organisations, as well as individuals. Maybe a chance for local user groups to get involved?

Definite potential here Dandy! :-)

Any thoughts from others?

-- posted by MetalJoe

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