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In my book, software piracy is plain wrong, regardless of whether you can get away with it and/or you can't afford to purchase a legal copy. As a shareware developer, I've seen my products ripped off over the years. This directly affects my bottom line, but still doesn't make it right for me to steal other people's software.
Here are some things you can do to keep the cost of your software down:- Delay upgrading your development tools if possible.
I bit the bullet and bought MSVC++ 6.0 because it's integral to my development effort, but held off from using MS Office 2000 for over a year. Instead, I bought a used (non-OEM) copy of MS Office 97 which served me very well.
- Use older versions of non-essential tools.
I use Adobe Photoshop 4.0 (which I bought used) for all my imaging tasks and have no plans to upgrade to the latest and greatest version. Before I switched to Photoshop, I used PaintShop Pro, a much less expensive imaging app.
- Use simpler, less expensive tools if possible.
I used to use Installshield at work, but couldn't afford to spring for my own copy. So instead I use Eschalon Setup Wizard which provides 90% of the functionality at a 20% of the cost. (Eschalon is now defunct, which means I don't have support. If encountered a serious problem, I would switch to a newer, free installer like InnoSetup or NullSoft's Installer).
- Use free/online resources if possible.
I prefer to use the online version of MSDN instead of subscribing to the CD set. This means I don't have access to the information at all times, but it's cheaper than springing for a subscription. I prefer to pay a flat monthly fee for cable modem service which allows easy access to MSDN (and everything else on the web).
For version control, consider using CVS or an alternative open source tool. For diffing, check out the excellent open source tool
WinMerge.
For web site development, I use Dynamic Drive and Matt's Script Archive instead of script generation tools.
I'm not implying that all these suggestions will work for you, but it's a start.
/ravi
"There is always one more bug..."
ravib@ravib.com
http://www.ravib.com
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Great tips, Ravi. I'd like to add one more..
Buy used software. I've found auction sites like eBay.com, Buy.com are great for this. I've often seen software of even latest versions on these sites.
//Fazlul
Get RadVC today! Play RAD in VC++
http://www.capitolsoft.com
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You're right - EBay is a great place to buy used software (and hardware!).
/ravi
"There is always one more bug..."
ravib@ravib.com
http://www.ravib.com
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Isn't selling used software a violation of the end user agreement?
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Not if you uninstall it from your system. Many vendors buy end-of-lease equipment from companies and resell the hardware and software. However, selling OEM software without the accompanying hardware is a violation of the OEM agreement.
/ravi
"There is always one more bug..."
http://www.ravib.com
ravib@ravib.com
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Not always! It depends on your end user license agreement. Some programs stipulate that you have a non-transferrable right to use the program... that is, you can't legally transfer it to anyone else.
Whether this is enforceable, or even permissible to put in an EULA, I'm not sure, but I've seen it before.
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
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Not if you uninstall it from your system.
>I don't believe most people that sell used software on Ebay do in fact remove the software from their PC first.
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Ravi
I understand you are an Indian from your name and thus you'd know that US$1= Indian Rs 47/-
Means we pay 47 x X for each piece of software. I really don't see how the average Indian Programmer can afford to do that. The only alternate solution is to move over to Linux.
Nish
Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain
www.busterboy.org
If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut
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Nish [BusterBoy] wrote:
The only alternate solution is to move over to Linux.
Well Said Nish, I totally agree with you. In India, Linux is getting more and more popular particularly in the universities where more people are going towards Linux. Recently, Bangalore hosted a Linux Users Conference which gives you some indication of visibility linux has been getting off late here.
I was surprised to see local groups actively involved in linux....
http://www.chennailug.org
I think in future there are more chances of Indian students getting involved in open source than it was before.
Cheers
Kannan
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Not every software on Linux is cheap or free. You have the OS for the price of media (download, CD etc.) but Linux itself doesn't quite do the job. You need another software to run it on Linux, and that doesn't depend on the price of Linux itself.
It is true that there is a lot of software comming from Open Source but even that is not always cheap. Open Source is about availability of source code, not the price.
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I was talking about developers.
In India an average developer wont be able to afford MSDN or Visual Studio. But gcc is free. So is KDevelop  and so are all the man pages and all the GTK/QT libraries
Nish
Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain
www.busterboy.org
If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut
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Nish [BusterBoy] wrote:
In India an average developer wont be able to afford MSDN or Visual Studio.
IMHO MSDN subscription is expensive regardless of your country and average developer can hardly afford it. But for the company it's not a big cost.
As for Visual Studio I believe that there are an "Academic" versions that are much cheaper than Proffesional or Enterprise release. They are good enought to learn the environment, but not licensed for production. You can try one of those.
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Hi Nish,
Nish [BusterBoy] wrote:
The only alternate solution is to move over to Linux.
That's a good point. Or one could use open source tools, if possible. Admittedly, there are more on Unix than Windows.
All I'm saying is that it's wrong for me to steal software because I find it expensive (which I do, even in the US!).
/ravi
"There is always one more bug..."
http://www.ravib.com
ravib@ravib.com
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All I'm saying is that it's wrong for me to steal software because I find it expensive (which I do, even in the US!).
EXACTLY.
I can deal with the "try before you buy" and "I just ran it once to convert a file" type stuff, but all this other stuff is just rationalization.
If I wanted to become a machinists, I just can't break into Sears and steal $1000 worth of hardware just so I can learn my trade. The same thing applies to software. People have just gotten so use to rationalizing it away since it is so easy to do.
Tim Smith
Descartes Systems Sciences, Inc.
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You're such a troller, Nish. And of course all these Indian programmers will get rich writing free software for Linux....
Christian
After all, there's nothing wrong with an elite as long as I'm allowed to be part of it!! - Mike Burston Oct 23, 2001
Sonork ID 100.10002:MeanManOzI live in Bob's HungOut now
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Christian Graus wrote:
And of course all these Indian programmers will get rich writing free software for Linux....
Just for the record: free software is about the freedom not the price as anybody who bothers to read licenses knows.
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I always get one....
Christian
After all, there's nothing wrong with an elite as long as I'm allowed to be part of it!! - Mike Burston Oct 23, 2001
Sonork ID 100.10002:MeanManOzI live in Bob's HungOut now
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Christian Graus wrote:
I always get one....
Huh?
get what?
Nish
Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain
www.busterboy.org
If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut
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Reel in a Linux zealot when I troll them.
Christian
After all, there's nothing wrong with an elite as long as I'm allowed to be part of it!! - Mike Burston Oct 23, 2001
Sonork ID 100.10002:MeanManOzI live in Bob's HungOut now
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Christian Graus wrote:
You're such a troller, Nish
LOL
Nish
Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain
www.busterboy.org
If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut
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Well those are great tips one could use. But how you people can resist if you see there is a new version and even you can get it for a Dollar. Like here in Pakistan I bought windows XP,Fifa 2002 and lots of accounting softwares on one CD.All 3 CDs for ONE DOLLAR.
In my dream, I was dorwning in my §orrow§
But my §orrow§, they learned to §wim
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No, you didn't buy it for a dollar, you stole it for a dollar.
/ravi
"There is always one more bug..."
http://www.ravib.com
ravib@ravib.com
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Just an interesting observation: no one's said that they don't engage in software piracy because they fear getting caught. (as of 118 votes)
C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
\\RUN\DOS\RUN
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Exactly my thought
cheers,
Chris Maunder
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If someone is afraid of getting caught downloading pirated software they may as well be afraid of admitting of doing so to some online poll.
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