saeidw wroteSoftware piracy boils down to a moral dilemma:
If you have a copy of a program that you paid for, and your friend asks you to make a copy of that program for him, will you do your friend a favor and copy the software, or do you abide by the license agreement and let your friend down?
The person putting you in this dilemma is the software vendor. Their license forbids you from helping your friend, even though when you make a copy of the program, you don't lose anything (you still have your copy, and you still paid for it).
Which is the lesser of two evils? Following the software license or violating it and helping your friend? Clearly, it is helping your friend. You're still doing something wrong (violating the license), but I say it is less wrong than saying no to a friend.
People choose to call this "piracy", as though you're attacking the software vendor and stealing their money. In an ideal society, this behavior would be encouraged, not criminalized.
The real problem is that software is not like a physical object. If I buy ten apples, I only have ten apples to share with my friends. I can not buy one apple and make copies of it and give them to my friends for free, it's physically impossible! I need to pay for every apple I share.
If I buy one program, I can make an infinite number of copies. I can pay for one copy, and share as many copies as I want. Software vendors cannot reasonably expect the same laws that apply to apples (which are finite in nature) to apply to programs!
Is this a bad thing for programmers? OF COURSE NOT! People still need programs to be written, and that's what programmers get paid for. We get paid to write software, fix bugs, add features, and lots of other things.
The problem is that the revenue source from programs cannot be from selling "copies" of programs, it has to come from somewhere else: service and support contracts, feature implementation contracts, etc.
Sorry for the Stallman-esque rant, but think about it! :D
First of all , I want to readily admit that I am a staunch supporter of FSF idea and a long time user of GNU and other open source software instead of commercial
FSF encourages open source software but doesn't in any way shape or form condone software piracy that's a totally different ball game , so if you think that FSF support software piracy , you're simply very wrong because it doesn't , please read FSF bylines .
As for the apples vs software citation , well that's not a valid argument , because both the apples farmer and software maker expect to make a revenue from the fruit of their labor and investment ,
the farmer spends money and effort to grow the apples same applies for the software maker who spends money and effort to develop the software , therefore both are property of the vendor before they are sold in the market and both expect revenue from their product.
Case in point , image a company spending a year to develop certain application (factor in their investment in programmers salaries , software packaging and advertisement) , do you think they'll be happy to see their product sold in the black market for 2000 lira per cd ? , of course not.
Just like the farmer do you think he'll be happy to see some one stealing his apples (on which he spent long time of labor an money to grow) for free ?.
The software market these days is an even level field , any one can get an open source software for almost any application you want be it from word processing to cad/cam design , instead of stealing a commercial one to use , being expensive (commercial) is not a excuse when you have a free or cheaper alternative , just like for argument sake petrol , we all know how expensive petrol in lebanon but since you need it you'll have to pay for it , you don't go and steal it .
Finally , when you say it's not a bad thing for programmers , I totally disagree with you it's indeed very bad , because programming jobs you're referring to are in companies who develop software hoping to sell in the market for revenue when those companies can't make money from their software , they'll simply go out of business or lay off their programmers both situation will be bad for programmers .
Bottom line , I am not in any way advocating software vendors , as I personally try to stay away from commercial ones , but again I am also totally against software piracy because I am also a programmer and I don't want to see myself jobless , the last thing I want is some bozo stealing my effort .
p.s. By you I don't mean you personally , the term is used metaphorically :-) .