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Robert W Cummings wrote:
>
> Pierre is not afraid of somebody stealing his code nor Doug by >offering a free trial. So somebody explain what's up with the other >vendors concerning this issue? etc. etc.
FWIW, I no longer buy any software - or hardware- I cannot return. In
the past I've bought enough things that did not work. Some were either
bug-laden, some did not work because of conflicts with other things I
had, some just didn't do what I expected, and some were just too
complicated for me. Most did work fine and I kept them.
If a vendor is afraid I will copy the product or break the code, and
doesn't want to take the risk... I respect that but I won't take the
risk either. If a vendor doesn't want to waste his time with triers
like me who may not have the sophistication to properly use the
software, I respect that choice too. But again, I won't take the risk.
There is certainly a lot of piracy out there. But I think most of the
very successful software companies have gone to a money-back guarantee,
and a fairly liberal and hassle-free one at that. Some examples are
Microsoft, Intuit, Symantec, and The Learning Company. Maybe these are
all big companies that can afford a certain percentage of theft and
piracy that would destroy a small developer.
I believe that MOST, not all, people will keep and pay for softwaare
that does what they need to be done, but that may be a naive belief and
I won't demand that any developer who has invested thousnads of dollars
and hours in a product risk his livelihood on the ethics of the general
population.
The vendor has to do what makes sense to him and I do the same.
Sorry for this long opinion that straddles both sides of the fence.
Mike
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