>The only thing wrong with your Ferrari analogy is that if the>"magic camera" prevented 10% of the people from purchasing the>Ferarri that would have otherwise purchased it, or even 1% of>the people, then it still is an action that is causing a>material loss no matter how you look at it.>Absolutely. Like I said, theres no denying the various "data industries" are losing money to piracy. I just don't think it's nearly as much as they let on and I think in many cases the "piracy bagaboo" becomes an easy crutch that failing companies can use so that they don't have to take an honest look at themselves to explain their failings...

I think I can prove it by the reduction in both my residuals and pension contributions since cd burners/napster types have come out...http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/1b5baf...b9f427f694g.jpgMy blog:http://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/

You are likely correct, that piracy does not have the exact effect that the industries claim. But due to all the factors in my first post, the damage caused is definately more than immeasurable.

Gavin,I only know what's in the press release -- that and quality of the man's work as I knew it. No inside information, just a willingness to read the press release as it was written -- by a caring son.

I have no doubt that "piracy", so-called, is damaging to some business models. Copyright, patent -- so-called "intellectual property" in the US is not a right at all, rather it is a power given to the Congress. That power has two important qualifiers attached to it:1. it must promote the progress of science and useful arts, and2. it is secured for limited timesBecause of these qualifiers, there is a tension between the interests of the rights-holders, and the public at large. How this gets resolved is a political matter best decided by the people's representatives.What I ask, is that we refrain from absolutes when discussing the morality of these things.For example, in view of the "library" exemption, I am free to borrow a CD from a "library" and play it to my heart's content and I am a good citizen. But, if I download the same CD from somewhere and listen to it, I am classed a "pirate".Likewise, in the matter of patents, the holder must fully disclose the basis for his claims, and I am free to dispute it on the basis of "novelty" or "prior art".All of which doesn't mean I object to people making money from their inventions. Having a PSS in the world offering products to us is probably better than not having them.Meanwhile, I see that record companies are suing web sites for providing links to content.scott s..

[CUT]I completely agree Zevious, you expressed my thought exactly.Marco

I personally don't understand pirates...First, half the stuff that's available on pirate websites is full of viruses, trojans, or just plain doesn't work.So you're playing russian roulette in a way when you install pirated stuff.As for people who would install a pirated O/S... well, that's just crazy and not worth the hassle.Second, theft is theft. Third, as I've mentioned before, if you value your time at the minimum wage (say $8 hour or whatever it is depending on where you live), if put a dollar value on the amount of time you waste trying to download and deal with pirated stuff (most of which as mentioned doesn't work), you're more often than not better off financially paying for the software directly.For example:You spend 6 hours trying to download and make pirated junk work: At $8/hr for your time, that's over $40 worth of your time.Most addon software is around the $30 or so range, so you're actually better off just buying the software.Cheers,Bryan

>Gavin,>>I only know what's in the press release -- that and quality of>the man's work as I knew it. No inside information, just a>willingness to read the press release as it was written -- by>a caring son.MikeI understand. Thanks for clarifying :-)Best!

Gavin,I used to speak a little Russian, and I see "Yak-40" in Cyrillic, but I can't make any sense of your signature. Is it in Czech? (Or perhaps Hungarian?)

I'm of course against piracy (being a founder of a game studio myself), but we don't put too much effort into preventing it either. We try to build a community around our games, which is something pirates can't steal. If they want to play with friends, then they must have a legal login account. I'm sure all games will be server side in the next 5 years. Currently, there's not much MS Flight sim developers can do to prevent piracy until FS11 becomes client/server based. Flight1's wrapper system is not bad, but it can be bypassed. This will actually open a lot more doors. Freeplay model games are coming and you can already see the industry trend going that way. EA just announced their first F2P game. It'll be great if a plane is offered free, but you'll have to pay a micro-transaction to install any repaints (a central server will validate these installs). This is the ideal business models for games and makes it very difficult to pirate. Of course pirates can still host their own validation servers, but these servers won't "talk" to the real ones...thus isolating the pirates (they wont be able to login into FS11 for example). On a side note. I've also seen big developers use piracy to their advantage. I wont name names, but it works like this: Big studio makes a product. Smaller studio comes along and makes a better version and much more improved. Seeing this as a threat, Big Studio floods the pirate sites with their own product fully cracked and operational. Small studio looses sales and closes down. Trust me, i've seen this happen many times :) Food for thought...-feng

EDIT: Removed

Being known as a thief was once something to be ashamed of. These days, it is considered something to boast about....The attitudes displayed by thieves these days is more disgusting than their acts....If a man will steal a 30 dollar FS addon what could he be trusted with on the job or around the local FBO? Imagine the acknowleged thief here being placed in a position where he could do even more harm to society in genereal.To be specific, I wouldn't want him around our local FBO...who knows what would come up missing?

MikeIt's Polish. The word 'piwo' is the same in Russian. The word 'Piatek' is Friday which is quite similar to the Russian 'Pyatnitsa' Basicaly I'm just saying that if it's Friday, it must be time for a beer :-) I find this to be a sound principal to base my life on :-)

To really understand this issue requires that a person can open their mind to new ideas. The world is very big. People have different constructs over what makes morality. Some views are quite different from the prevailing notions in western society. To recognize these alternative views as "differently moral", rather than "amoral" requires this open mind. Developing nations view proprietary rights quite differently from economically developed nations. There is a very interesting article worth reading on this subject in the Journal of Business Ethics (12:157-164)1993. The article is titled: "The Moral Legitimacy of Intellectual Property Claims: American Business and Developing Countries Perspective" by Paul Steidlmeier (SUNY/Binghamton School of Management).Here we learn that developing countries view the presence of society as a precondition for the development of any intellectual property, and therefore public ownership is considered the natural state. Much more logical view if considered tribally or familially. Many developing countries do view the world in this fashion. Specifically quoted from the article: (Mr. Kyung-Won Kim, then (1986)Ambassador to the US from South Korea) "historically, Koreans have not viewed intellectual discoveries or scientific inventions as the private property of their discoverers or inventors. New ideas or technologies were "public goods" for everybody to share freely. Cultural esteem rather than material gain was the incentive for creativity." Unless you understand the world you are condemned to remain frustrated by it!Best,Bob Bernstein

Hmm, didn't bother to read the articles but do understand that in my own family everything I own is subject to use by my wife and children. Guess what, no one else has that right....This modern day hodgepodge of thinking is nothing more than rationalization of simple theft.Bob, whatever you own or create is your property, not other peoples property. I doubt that you would standby while I and my family visited your house and took anything we considered "communal" property unless you smoked too much weed in the '60sGet a grip my friend. Since the beginning theft has been considered a wrong thing and those who practice it are scorned and ridiculed by societies the world over. The punishment for theft in many of todays societies is extreme and that is as it should be.To qoute you...Unless you understand the world you are condemned to remain frustrated by it!:-)