Free stuff is always popular - right until it disappears because no one makes it anymore.
*sigh* This stupid "argument" again?
Radio puts out music for free, I don't pay for anything after I get a radio, yet music still gets made.
TV over broadcast, I don't pay for the channels if I have an antenna up, yet TV is still being made.
Movies get pirated all the time, yet still get made. If I go out to my grandmother's and pick up an old movie from when I was a kid and watch it, that I didn't buy, do I harm the movie studios?
BTW, for that stupid argument, I point to you Bill Gates...
"Bill Gates voiced his dissatisfaction with this argument in his now legendary bitchfest "The Open Letter To Hobbyists." The pre-billionaire Gates pointed out that for some reason, everybody knew not to steal a computer, but considered software free for the taking (he complained that they earned less than $2 an hour for their work on the software, because so few people paid for it). If this continues, Gates argued, why will anybody write software?
Pirates were undeterred. It didn't take long for hackers to work out ways to trade warez electronically: Early transactions were made through bulletin board systems. These worked similar to the way the modern Internet works... if you had to directly call up each website with your modem and politely request every byte with a cordial handwritten note.
So, decades later, in an industry where piracy is still rampant and yet a fair amount of software still seems to get written, what became of the major anti-piracy advocates? Well, let's refer back to that earliest and most vocal detractor: Bill Gates.
He now admits that piracy of its biggest product has actually expanded its market in countries like China, going so far as to say: "As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours."
And, come on, look at the damage software piracy has done. If only everybody had paid for their copies, poor Bill Gates might still have a job today... instead of retiring to literally ski everywhere he goes on gigantic drifts of dollars."
Re: Civic responsibility: "failed to remove some mean messages".
Would you sue Walmart if someone jumped off the top of the building because someone else bullied them at Walmart constantly and/or dared them to jump, thus causing them to die?
On the post: Barack Obama: We Don't Have A Domestic Spy Program
He's right!
It's a GLOBAL spy program!
On the post: Obama Cancels Putin Meeting Because Of Snowden, Because Diplomacy Is Like Kindergarten
Re: Re: Dammit!
On the post: Obama Cancels Putin Meeting Because Of Snowden, Because Diplomacy Is Like Kindergarten
Dammit!
Obama: *Pounding the ground crying* I want Snowden! I want! I want! I want!
On the post: As Russia Expands Its 'Think Of The Children' Laws To Copyright, Agency In Charge Investigated For Infringement
Re: And responds correctly! "will now carry out a full internal audit"
Nothing I have on my computer or game systems that I could get through legitimate websites is pirated.
Now, stuff that isn't licensed in the U.S., that's another story, since I can't legally buy it...
On the post: New Vietnam Decree Says Blogs And Social Media Must Contain Only Personal Information, Not News Reports
Re:
On the post: Survey: Most Italian Internet Users Think Ignoring Copyright Harms Publishers, But Not Society As A Whole
Re:
*sigh* This stupid "argument" again?
Radio puts out music for free, I don't pay for anything after I get a radio, yet music still gets made.
TV over broadcast, I don't pay for the channels if I have an antenna up, yet TV is still being made.
Movies get pirated all the time, yet still get made. If I go out to my grandmother's and pick up an old movie from when I was a kid and watch it, that I didn't buy, do I harm the movie studios?
BTW, for that stupid argument, I point to you Bill Gates...
"Bill Gates voiced his dissatisfaction with this argument in his now legendary bitchfest "The Open Letter To Hobbyists." The pre-billionaire Gates pointed out that for some reason, everybody knew not to steal a computer, but considered software free for the taking (he complained that they earned less than $2 an hour for their work on the software, because so few people paid for it). If this continues, Gates argued, why will anybody write software?
Pirates were undeterred. It didn't take long for hackers to work out ways to trade warez electronically: Early transactions were made through bulletin board systems. These worked similar to the way the modern Internet works... if you had to directly call up each website with your modem and politely request every byte with a cordial handwritten note.
So, decades later, in an industry where piracy is still rampant and yet a fair amount of software still seems to get written, what became of the major anti-piracy advocates? Well, let's refer back to that earliest and most vocal detractor: Bill Gates.
He now admits that piracy of its biggest product has actually expanded its market in countries like China, going so far as to say: "As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours."
And, come on, look at the damage software piracy has done. If only everybody had paid for their copies, poor Bill Gates might still have a job today... instead of retiring to literally ski everywhere he goes on gigantic drifts of dollars."
Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_18513_5-insane-file-sharing-panics-from-before-internet.html
On the post: Survey: Most Italian Internet Users Think Ignoring Copyright Harms Publishers, But Not Society As A Whole
Re:
As Syndrome points out...
"If everyone is a criminal, then no one is."
On the post: Team Prenda May Be In Even More Trouble In Reopened Case
I'm all out of popcorn...
On the post: Administration Can't Let Go: Wants To Bring Back Felony Streaming Provisions Of SOPA
You know that thunder you just heard?
On the post: Surprise: Obama's New US Trade Rep Overturns ITC, Stops Ban On Apple Products
Apple is a U.S company?
They have no factories here, all their stuff is built in China and they import it to the U.S. at high prices.
Let's just be honest, Mike, Apple is not a U.S. corporation, they're Chinese.
Besides, Obama sat and had dinner with Steve Jobs, you think he wouldn't look out for that company?
There is nothing positive about what happened here.
If the situations were reversed, does ANYONE think that Samsung would have gotten the same treatment?
On the post: Piracy Doesn't Create A Loss To 'The Economy,' But To A Particular Industry
Re: Re: Re: Mike likes "zero-sum game", if re-distributed to grifters!
Oh, I dunno, how about funds to help make new startup businesses work, which in turn hires people, which in turn helps the economy.
Wanna try again?
On the post: Piracy Doesn't Create A Loss To 'The Economy,' But To A Particular Industry
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Mike likes "zero-sum game", if re-distributed to grifters!
Hollywood does nothing but leech from society anyway.
At least Kim Dotcom and MEGA/Megaupload gives society something in return.
On the post: FBI Increasingly Using Malware To Remotely Turn On Phone/Laptop Microphones
Re:
On the post: FBI Increasingly Using Malware To Remotely Turn On Phone/Laptop Microphones
So...
Sweet! Time to hack the stock market.
On the post: Italian Prosecutor Wants To Bring Criminal Charges Against Facebook For Not Stopping A Suicide
Re: Civic responsibility: "failed to remove some mean messages".
On the post: Congressional Oversight? Dianne Feinstein Says She's 'Not A High-Tech Techie' But Knows NSA Can't Abuse Surveillance
Seriously...
Are the people these morons go against THAT bad that people continue to vote for them?
On the post: Russia's Version Of Facebook, VKontakte, Offers Ed Snowden A Job In Data Protection
I admit...
It really is amusing to see this happen.
On the post: President Obama: NSA Surveillance Was Necessary To Make Sure Boston Bombings Weren't Part Of Bigger Plot
Re: Re: Re: Re:
The Amish are the biggest suppliers of Terrorists in the world!
The NSA can't track them!
On the post: President Obama: NSA Surveillance Was Necessary To Make Sure Boston Bombings Weren't Part Of Bigger Plot
Re: Re: Re: Re: Making it clear -- but you LEFT OUT A LOT!
I don't use Google's Android OS
but I have no choice in what the government does.
On the post: Cable News Networks 'Grant' Manning Verdict A Whole Five Minutes Of Coverage
Re:
Or are you talking about Manning, who tried to help the American public?
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