Do you consider yourself a thief?
Have you ever stolen something that you wanted so badly you just
couldn't wait to afford it? Have you ever been so hungry that you had
to steal a loaf of bread or helped yourself to an apple on a farmer's
tree? How about needing a particular software program for school or
work, but balking at the several hundred dollar price tag or
upgrading your version of Mac OS without paying the fee Apple wants?
Kept your shareware program longer than 30 days (or whatever) without
paying?
How about Napster? Ever felt that buying a CD was too expensive or
took up too much of your time to go down to a retail outlet?
Face it, most of you who are reading this are thieves.
I'm not trying to be judgmental here, just pointing out something
most people do not realize. Most people would never consider stealing
food or a new toy. But something they can get electronically is
seemingly much different. Almost everyone I've talked to says that
they don't feel like they stole software, only that they were using
their wits to beat the system.
The biggest place people fall down with computer theft is
Napster.
Everyone loves music; Friedrich Neitzche once said, "Without
music, life would be a mistake." Due to the high level of media
coverage, Napster gained a huge user base. There are Napster clients
for virtually every platform, and many college students have better
speakers on their computers than on their stereos. In less than three
months, most of the entering freshmen at my college amassed 1-5
gigabytes of MP3s via Napster, which corresponds to over 1000 songs.
This is easy inside a college residence hall, as high speed Internet
lines are frequently available.
Think about 1000 songs. Let us suppose a CD has 15 tracks and
costs $10. By that estimate, these 1000 songs are over $650 worth of
music. Suddenly that time you stole a candy bar when you were 12
doesn't seem quite so bad, does it?
Let's look into shareware now. Shareware is a system by which
software is distributed on the honor system. You get to try out the
software for a set period of time, usually 30 days, and if you like
it you send the author a small fee for it. This is much cheaper than
most commercial software packages, as there are no costs involved in
packaging or storing the merchandise, or in hiring people to sell it
or a venue to sell from. Yet most people try to find a way around
it.
I feel shareware is the best way to sell software, as you
generally get to test something out before you buy it. Many people
and businesses have bought a program such as Adobe Acrobat and
discovered that they have no idea how to use it, and after talking
with tech support from various places they discover they would have
been much better off with something like PrintToPDF.
Adobe Photoshop is another example. Don't get me wrong, Photoshop
is an excellent program that has very powerful tools for graphic
designers. However, many people - especially businesses and research
institutions - go into a Photoshop purchase with the aim of viewing
images, doing some scanning and maybe some light cropping, and
editing work. For those people I would recommend GraphicConverter.
GraphicConverter is one of those programs people talk about. It's
only $35 and can handle the same workload many people put into
Photoshop. It is much easier to use, has lower disk and RAM
requirements, and updates are almost always free.
How many people do you think actually pay for Graphic Converter.
The only downside to not paying is an irritating 5 second wait at
startup right? Fortunately, some people must be paying for Graphic
Converter, or else the author would stop writing updates. People not
paying for shareware is the leading cause for shareware's decline in
recent years.
In the 80s and early 90s, the user community was brimming with
shareware. The Internet wasn't in full force yet, but those BBSes
were distributing shareware all over the place, and people were
dutifully paying for it. Now people justify not paying by saying, "it
works fine without the registration," or "$15 isn't going to help
this guy."
How about other programs? People balk at the $200 price to upgrade
Office 98 to Office 2001. They ask me, "Is it good? Is it worth it?"
My response is usually, "No, but get it anyway." The software
companies made a very smart marketing choice in changing from version
numbers to year numbers. Suppose if it was called "Word 8" and "Word
9." That's only one number different, whereas their are three whole
years between Word 98 and Word 2001.
When the new version is released, the large company or university
makes the switch. To stay current, so do all the students and
workers. Resistance is futile. People will constantly say, "Your
computer is out of date" or "Macs are incompatible." I've said it
before and I'll say it again - the only improvement that I have
noticed in my every day use of Word 2001 over Word 98 is that the
autobullet feature actually works. That's it. I'm not saying there
aren't other features that are nice, but that isn't the issue.
So what does an underpaid employee or an in-debt college student
do? I have heard stories of people all putting in some money and
buying one copy as a group - and of people buying such software at
educational prices and then selling it on eBay
for a profit. Do they consider this stealing? Of course not. They're
surviving. For many financially burdened people, taking a $400
computer program is no different than a $1.25 loaf of bread.
Now let's look at that $1.25 loaf of bread. I'm guessing almost
none of you have stolen a load of bread because you were hungry. This
doesn't include pranks or dares. I'm guessing at least half of the
readers have either not paid for shareware or been involved in
software piracy. I would go on to say that probably 75% of everyone
that reads this article has used Napster or has no problem with
others using Napster.
Pay those shareware fees. Buy that CD. Support shareware authors
and musicians so they don't have to steal loaves of bread.
Andrew W. Hill (a.k.a. Aqua) has been using Macintosh computers since
1987 and maintains that the
Mac
SE is the perfect Macintosh, superior to all - including the
Color Classic. He is on the
verge of being evicted from the family home due to its infestation of
Macs (last count: about 50). Andrew is attempting to pay his way
through college at UC Santa Cruz with freelance web design and Mac
tech support.
Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.
