Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!ginosko!uunet!ncrlnk!ncr-sd!crash!pro-pac.cts.com!frankd From: frankd@pro-pac.cts.com (Mike Snook) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Software Sales Strategies vs. Piracy Message-ID: <208@crash.cts.com> Date: 16 Aug 89 18:36:05 GMT Sender: root@crash.cts.com Lines: 30 It's a shame that developers don't get their fair rewards for their time and money. I want my software written by professionals, which means they have to be able to make a living at it. Too many people are pirating software. It's also a shame that you can't change human nature. If you offer most people a chance to steal something at virtually no risk of getting caught, they'll find some way to see it as "not stealing". The HonorWare market will never catch up with the Pirate market because of human nature. Hollywood knows they can't stop people from making pirate copies of their movies, too. there are differences in the analogy, a Big Screen presentation can't be matched by anything in the home, a copied tape isn't as good as the original, neither of these things are true of pirated software, but my point is that movies get pirated anyway and Hollywood, instead of playing on peoples' "Honor" to pay for shareware, or asking their producers to make public domain movies, has implemented marketing strategies that give them a piece of the action. Hollywood makes big bucks farming their movies out to HBO, Cinemax, etc., not to mention the video rental stores. They know darn well that most folks are going to make illegal copies of movies from these sources but they get what they can out of it. I'm sure they'd love it if people would pay $79.95 for every movie they 'd like to own. They know they can't, so they take what they can get. Why don't software developers adopt a similar strategy by selling programs to stores that will rent them out for a fraction of their purchase price, and take a royalty from every rental? Developers would make more money (possibly, I haven't the time to make a federal study of it) and the general population has an opportunity to obtain software WITH the manuals. There will of course always be that elite group who will have no less than the original with the original packaging either because of elitism or natural honesty. strictly opinion, strictly mine, go ahead and sue me I have no Money.