In fact, it isn't even "simultaneous" inventions which are the problem - it's simply the fact that you shouldn't be expected to pay another inventor just because you happen to come up with the same thing independently. If you invent something and then 10 years later I invent the same thing with no knowledge of your invention then I shouldn't be expected to pay you, since the existence of your invention hasn't helped me in any way, and I would still have come up with it even without your work.
By that logic I shouldn't be able to get sentenced for a crime I didn't know was unlawful. The bullet you're presenting can easily be dodged by saying that it's every inventors responsibility to look for existing inventions before setting sail, just like it is every citizens responsibility to check for laws before committing a crime.
As various searches reveal that in 2007 he was using Ubuntu, the "long time now" must mean gosh, what, using Windows 7 a couple of years? Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "early release".
Seem disingenuous.
Dell needs a good quarter, folks. Those nasty guys on Wall Street will be all over them if they don't squeeze out a good quarter to make Dell look good against Acer. Or not.
And computer companies wonder why their credibility is so dubious.
Either way what Michael Dell says as the CEO of Dell doesn't reflect his personal opinion, just like any other CEO, or anybody working within management, your professional opinion can be in complete contrast to your personal opinion. What he's proposing (that everybody upgrade to Win7, and hopefully with that also buy new shiny Dell PCs) is something that will benefit his business, and he would be the worlds shittiest CEO if he didn't. So basically this means nothing other than the fact that Dell also wishes to make profit on Windows 7. Also something noteworthy is that the life situation of Michael Dell, as a multibillionare, is very different from the vast majority; thus whatever Michael Dell chooses will most likely not reflect what's best for you as an average income consumer. Even though the ape in us wants to try to mimic the decisions of the successful, it can sometimes be difficult to understand why mimicing isolated decisions is more likely to do you harm than good.
But my only worry now is battery life. Are we to expect to see the Nintendo logo then power off? Are we to even SEE the logo? It'll be like turning it on, light flashes and off. Damn you Nintendo~, DAMN YOU~
Wouldn't be better to offer fast booting Linux (Moblin?) and dual boot with Win? Then users can access nice and quick Linux environment or wait for Win if they "really" need Office.
Android is good for phones, but that's how far it goes...
And from my perspective -- I don't care. Android to me hopefully means that the device comes with open specs, thus I can at any moment pick my own flavor. If it doesn't, well then it's just another netbook along the road. I don't use Linux for the name, there is a purpose behind my choice. I'm a brand turncoat and I always pick what I consider best for me, just like any non self-destructive consumer. In other words, flashing "Linux" infront of me isn't going to score you any points Acer, just like Netgear didn't score any points with their epic failure of an open router. If you do it right, I'll purchase your device. I've been waiting for a netbook worth purchasing to be honest. After so many recent disappointments from companies promising more than they delivered I'm still sceptical. Only time will tell.
Fanboy basically means "no matter if they do good or bad I'll follow them", which is just another way of saying "I'm a fucking idiot". Seriously, being called fanboy is a bad thing.
I think you've got it wrong. An Apple fanboy is anyone who is less critical of Apple than you are, while an Apple-hater is anyone who is more critical of Apple than you are. At least that's how I've seen the words used on/.
I'm critical about all brands. Allow me to explain the concept of trading. Also the way I've seen it been used, the meaning has varied from people who just like Apple products (shifted more towards the more sane side of consumerism) and to those insane fanatics who mod down and trash any critisism against Apple. As usual nothing is entirely black and white.
The RIAA (and later the MPAA,) have fought EVERY single innovation that even looks like it might possibly impinge on their clients' business turf, right up until it becomes overwhelmingly clear that they're actually preventing their client's from making more money than if they kept their head in the sand.
If it was up to the **AAs, we would be copying sheet music for our spinets with sharpened quill pens.
They are a creation dating from before the invention of democracy and all they have ever done is behave like it.
It's easy to persuade people into harming themselves, just play on their ignorance and pride, tell them that it "harms the economy" and they'll run miles for you.
About harming the economy. Whose economy? Mine or yours? (not you crovira, I'm referring to RIAA, MPAA etc.) Because from my perspective it seems to be a good deal. And if you're telling me that music or movies or even culture will stop to exist, I have a feeling you're just full of fucking shit and I'm willing to bet you any sum you want on the opposite. Now nobody in the industry would ever dare to make that bet since they know that they are just -- that's right -- full of shit.
... geek has always had its positive sides... fanboy has never been positive in any way
What is positive about being developmentally retarded and biting the heads of chickens in order to amuse paying onlookers, exactly? You know, since that's the original meaning of the word geek. And fanboy is not a direct synonym of fanatic, no matter how much you want it to be - it is sometimes used that way, but really just means 'a male fan, who is at the rather extreme end of fan'.
Point taken, however we're not talking about just being a fan of anything, we're talking about brand preference, often rather blindly. From a sane point of view any purchase should be weighed according to the products quality, not its name and not its brand. The fundamental concept of trading is a tug of war where the buyer pushes for lower prices and higher quality, while the seller pushes for higher profit (lower production costs, higher pricing). And the concept is the same whether it's a man-to-man trade or corporation-to-man trade My point is that only an idiot consumer actually sides with the seller, harming nothing but his personal economy, instead of pushing for -- that's right -- lower prices and higher quality. In a man-to-man trade you can haggle to show your discontent with the current status (price contra quality), and in the corporate-to-man trade, where haggling is very rare, you can show your discontent by simply not buying the product at hand, by providing feedback (which helps if you form a group, even a facebook group saying "we want product X to be cheaper or we won't purchase it" has an effect), and under no circumstances ever, ever say "I love brand X." As a consumer that's simply shooting yourself in the foot. What I'm trying to say is that I'm not so hung up on the word itself or its origins, even though it might seem like that, but I'm more concererned about what the practical meaning of it is. And in this sense it doesn't matter if it's the "old fanboy" or the "new fanboy" we're talking about, as the concept blind brand preference, which I've just explained, is fundamentally the same.
Fanboy basically means "no matter if they do good or bad I'll follow them", which is just another way of saying "I'm a fucking idiot". Seriously, being called fanboy is a bad thing.
Hey, since everybody who hates Apple calls everybody who doesn't a fanboy, who fucking cares.
Why does it feel like I'm wasting my time?
Because you are a hateboi.
I have no substitution, I'm not a fan of anything. I choose whatever is best, and not by brand. I'm a brand turncoat and I always get what's in my best interest. Can you honestly say that this isn't the best way for a consumer to act? In terms of personal economy -- that is.
Just like nerd or geek used to be, right? The evolution of language is a bitch.
Wow, you challenge me for a game of semantics? No thanks. Oh and while nerd and geek has always had its positive sides (along with its negative sides) the profile has become socially accepted, a fanboy has never been positive in any way. Let me ask you: what do you consider positive about a fanboy?
I don't associate the gambling industry with organized crime, but I consider it predatory. Still, gotta legalize it or it'll just be run by criminals again.
Or continue to be run by the same criminals, but with their operation legalised. Gambling is pretty tightly government controlled here in Australia, and they do work hard to keep the mob and mob-related people out. The occasional flutter on Melbourne Cup Day however is seen as patriotism by most, not gambling. But the Casinos are neither owned nor operated by the Government, and you know who the investors are going to align with. It's not for nothing the favorite media euphemism for a certain job category is "colourful racing personality".
If you stay out of the finance end of gambling you might get to keep your kneecaps, no matter who runs it. Just remember, Las Vegas wasn't built by winning gamblers - Las Vegas was built on the backs of losers.
I don't mind buying the occasional lottery ticket (not often) because I consider it a fun thing to underwrite the sudden wealth of some poor sod somewhere in the country. Luck tax, if you like. But ponies, pokies, roulette & all that? You're just paying someone else's neon bill. Do the math.
I've been to casinos a few times in my life. A couple of times I came out with more than I started with, but more often I didn't. In my opinion you can only justify entering a casino by having two key criterias along:
1) Expecting to lose. 2) A sum of already withdrawn cash which you are prepared to lose, you may use your credit card for one purpose, and that would be ordering foods or drinks.
Keep this in mind and you'll have a fun time without getting broke. This has worked for me everytime.
Fanboy basically means "no matter if they do good or bad I'll follow them", which is just another way of saying "I'm a fucking idiot". Seriously, being called fanboy is a bad thing.
Don't remember AMD cheating, But then I have only more recently become a big ATI fan, However Nvidia has a long history of benchmark cheating in drivers in order to make there stuff look better than it is and many times it was far more blatant than what intel is doing here
At the time of quack.exe ATI wasn't owned by AMD, cheating or no cheating we've got to be clear on that one.
Using their technique, we can now profile our cards to provide maximum protection with minimum tinfoil!
I have one of those metal card holders which, at first, I was disappointed at since it isolated my RFID keycard at work, because it would be very convenient to just flash the whole card holder. Then I came to my senses and realised that it was a good thing that I always chose when the card was readable and when it was't. It was one of those moments when you just appreciate what you have.
I'm thinking of people who send random pokes to their contact lists all the time, without any actual communication meaning to them.
Moreover... poking on Facebook only actually works if the person has added you as their friend.
If you went to court to get a no-contact order against someone else, why the heck would you add or keep them as your friend on facebook?
Everything status update, every message you post shows up as a communication to all your friends... so you're actually initiating contact with them!
In the case of two friends it might be completely meaningless. In the case of someone with a restraining order against the other: what do you think? Look if you're so careless that you "accidently" communicate, in any way, with someone which has a restraining order against you, then I hope the judge hands out at least one implied facepalm.
When you already speak the world language, what other language is there any benefit to learning? You can speak English all over the world, learn French and you might use it once in your life.
Well as much as I'd wish that was true -- it's not. All countries speaking latin languages have a hard time coping with English, some of them horribly (Spain, France, Italy) and others ok (Portugal). Other than that Germany has slight difficulties with English as well, while e.g. most of Scandinavia speak fluent English. This is only Europe though, I'm not sure what goes for South America, but from what I've heard they don't speak too much english either. In business however English is the key in almost any country, except perhaps Japan since they are just rich enough to say "You know what? Fuck English, have them learn Japanese".
Would it have been better if they had just not bothered with Linux at all?
Seriously, all you people do is whine.
I am posting anonumously to preserve my spent mod points in this article. Why is this a troll? It is a valid question. Asus tried with Linux and the hand of MS smacked them across the face for it and they relented. Do they not deserve some praise or at the very least some sort of acknowledgement that they even tried to begin with? I am sure Asus would be happy to continue to sell the Linux versions because there is a customer base with demand and very little cost to Asus to meet that demand. You all make it sound like Asus did this because they were playing a sick joke on everyone.
You make a good point, the AC to whom you replied to did not. To answer your question: 12-year-olds posting silly nonsense usually get marked troll.
Stealing is actually great for the economy... think about it.
I understand your point, but let's move aside from the bullshitters (RIAA, MPAA etc.) rhetorics and ask the real question: is copying good for the economy? But let's elaborate and ask an even more important question, is copying good for humanity?
Right, like they would have bought it if they couldn't pirate it.
I love this bullshit. As you say, there's no way of telling how many percent of those who pirated would actually buy the software at hand. In my experience often people pirate because they're lazy, meaning they know some program from a while back and instead of looking for a free alternative they just pirate it because they're used to it. But also sometimes they actually need that program, however more often they don't. Also it's very easy to throw expressions such as "harming the economy" around. But let's think about what this means. If, and we have to remember the big if here, there would be a significant increase in such sales -- instead of people looking for free and/or open source alternatives (which by the way is already happening, anyway let's continue with the hypothesis) -- then in an international aspect this would harm the economy as the national currency would be weakened due to less trade. HOWEVER (one of those important caps moments) -- don't forget that piracy is also an international phenomenon, meaning if all countries have 10% piracy it would be -- in terms of economic balance, exactly the same as if we had 0% -- or 80%. What about national level? Well at national level the currency would merely shift towards those selling the software, as they collect the fees. What about the personal economy? Well you would have a slightly stronger currency (given that other countries ignore piracy) yet you would still, at a personal level, make a loss.
Now let's ignore the moral aspects here, you can yell theft all you want but that's another discussion. This discussion was about the economy and how someone tries to bullshit you from this angle to change your mind. Change your mind for the right reasons, if you consider it theft then fine, but don't eat whatever crap that's thrown at you. By using the expressions such as "economy", a very big machine which can be difficult to understand, you can persuade somebody into a lot of things, since ultimately they will tend to feel stupid because they cannot break down the concept and understand how this hurts the economy -- you see no explanation is given, and that's the point of the argument. So if you feel stupid, that's even more of a reason to ask the question: why?
Slashdot Mirror
In fact, it isn't even "simultaneous" inventions which are the problem - it's simply the fact that you shouldn't be expected to pay another inventor just because you happen to come up with the same thing independently. If you invent something and then 10 years later I invent the same thing with no knowledge of your invention then I shouldn't be expected to pay you, since the existence of your invention hasn't helped me in any way, and I would still have come up with it even without your work.
By that logic I shouldn't be able to get sentenced for a crime I didn't know was unlawful. The bullet you're presenting can easily be dodged by saying that it's every inventors responsibility to look for existing inventions before setting sail, just like it is every citizens responsibility to check for laws before committing a crime.
As various searches reveal that in 2007 he was using Ubuntu, the "long time now" must mean gosh, what, using Windows 7 a couple of years? Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "early release".
Seem disingenuous.
Dell needs a good quarter, folks. Those nasty guys on Wall Street will be all over them if they don't squeeze out a good quarter to make Dell look good against Acer. Or not.
And computer companies wonder why their credibility is so dubious.
Either way what Michael Dell says as the CEO of Dell doesn't reflect his personal opinion, just like any other CEO, or anybody working within management, your professional opinion can be in complete contrast to your personal opinion. What he's proposing (that everybody upgrade to Win7, and hopefully with that also buy new shiny Dell PCs) is something that will benefit his business, and he would be the worlds shittiest CEO if he didn't. So basically this means nothing other than the fact that Dell also wishes to make profit on Windows 7.
Also something noteworthy is that the life situation of Michael Dell, as a multibillionare, is very different from the vast majority; thus whatever Michael Dell chooses will most likely not reflect what's best for you as an average income consumer.
Even though the ape in us wants to try to mimic the decisions of the successful, it can sometimes be difficult to understand why mimicing isolated decisions is more likely to do you harm than good.
TS, not DS.
Three screens, woohoo!
But my only worry now is battery life.
Are we to expect to see the Nintendo logo then power off?
Are we to even SEE the logo? It'll be like turning it on, light flashes and off.
Damn you Nintendo~, DAMN YOU~
Regarding your power consumption concerns.
Wouldn't be better to offer fast booting Linux (Moblin?) and dual boot with Win? Then users can access nice and quick Linux environment or wait for Win if they "really" need Office.
Android is good for phones, but that's how far it goes...
And from my perspective -- I don't care. Android to me hopefully means that the device comes with open specs, thus I can at any moment pick my own flavor. If it doesn't, well then it's just another netbook along the road. I don't use Linux for the name, there is a purpose behind my choice. I'm a brand turncoat and I always pick what I consider best for me, just like any non self-destructive consumer. In other words, flashing "Linux" infront of me isn't going to score you any points Acer, just like Netgear didn't score any points with their epic failure of an open router. If you do it right, I'll purchase your device. I've been waiting for a netbook worth purchasing to be honest. After so many recent disappointments from companies promising more than they delivered I'm still sceptical. Only time will tell.
Either perfect symmetry exists -- or you do.
He knows his stuff. In the long run truth will prevail!
Way To Go Ray!
E
A big leap for humanity, a small step back for the thieves of your culture.
Fanboy basically means "no matter if they do good or bad I'll follow them", which is just another way of saying "I'm a fucking idiot". Seriously, being called fanboy is a bad thing.
I think you've got it wrong. An Apple fanboy is anyone who is less critical of Apple than you are, while an Apple-hater is anyone who is more critical of Apple than you are. At least that's how I've seen the words used on /.
I'm critical about all brands. Allow me to explain the concept of trading. Also the way I've seen it been used, the meaning has varied from people who just like Apple products (shifted more towards the more sane side of consumerism) and to those insane fanatics who mod down and trash any critisism against Apple. As usual nothing is entirely black and white.
The RIAA (and later the MPAA,) have fought EVERY single innovation that even looks like it might possibly impinge on their clients' business turf, right up until it becomes overwhelmingly clear that they're actually preventing their client's from making more money than if they kept their head in the sand.
If it was up to the **AAs, we would be copying sheet music for our spinets with sharpened quill pens.
They are a creation dating from before the invention of democracy and all they have ever done is behave like it.
It's easy to persuade people into harming themselves, just play on their ignorance and pride, tell them that it "harms the economy" and they'll run miles for you.
About harming the economy. Whose economy? Mine or yours? (not you crovira, I'm referring to RIAA, MPAA etc.) Because from my perspective it seems to be a good deal. And if you're telling me that music or movies or even culture will stop to exist, I have a feeling you're just full of fucking shit and I'm willing to bet you any sum you want on the opposite. Now nobody in the industry would ever dare to make that bet since they know that they are just -- that's right -- full of shit.
... geek has always had its positive sides ... fanboy has never been positive in any way
What is positive about being developmentally retarded and biting the heads of chickens in order to amuse paying onlookers, exactly? You know, since that's the original meaning of the word geek. And fanboy is not a direct synonym of fanatic, no matter how much you want it to be - it is sometimes used that way, but really just means 'a male fan, who is at the rather extreme end of fan'.
Point taken, however we're not talking about just being a fan of anything, we're talking about brand preference, often rather blindly. From a sane point of view any purchase should be weighed according to the products quality, not its name and not its brand.
The fundamental concept of trading is a tug of war where the buyer pushes for lower prices and higher quality, while the seller pushes for higher profit (lower production costs, higher pricing). And the concept is the same whether it's a man-to-man trade or corporation-to-man trade My point is that only an idiot consumer actually sides with the seller, harming nothing but his personal economy, instead of pushing for -- that's right -- lower prices and higher quality.
In a man-to-man trade you can haggle to show your discontent with the current status (price contra quality), and in the corporate-to-man trade, where haggling is very rare, you can show your discontent by simply not buying the product at hand, by providing feedback (which helps if you form a group, even a facebook group saying "we want product X to be cheaper or we won't purchase it" has an effect), and under no circumstances ever, ever say "I love brand X." As a consumer that's simply shooting yourself in the foot.
What I'm trying to say is that I'm not so hung up on the word itself or its origins, even though it might seem like that, but I'm more concererned about what the practical meaning of it is. And in this sense it doesn't matter if it's the "old fanboy" or the "new fanboy" we're talking about, as the concept blind brand preference, which I've just explained, is fundamentally the same.
As an Apple fanboy
Fanboy basically means "no matter if they do good or bad I'll follow them", which is just another way of saying "I'm a fucking idiot". Seriously, being called fanboy is a bad thing.
Hey, since everybody who hates Apple calls everybody who doesn't a fanboy, who fucking cares.
Why does it feel like I'm wasting my time?
Because you are a hateboi.
I have no substitution, I'm not a fan of anything. I choose whatever is best, and not by brand. I'm a brand turncoat and I always get what's in my best interest. Can you honestly say that this isn't the best way for a consumer to act? In terms of personal economy -- that is.
Just like nerd or geek used to be, right? The evolution of language is a bitch.
Wow, you challenge me for a game of semantics? No thanks. Oh and while nerd and geek has always had its positive sides (along with its negative sides) the profile has become socially accepted, a fanboy has never been positive in any way. Let me ask you: what do you consider positive about a fanboy?
I don't associate the gambling industry with organized crime, but I consider it predatory. Still, gotta legalize it or it'll just be run by criminals again.
Or continue to be run by the same criminals, but with their operation legalised. Gambling is pretty tightly government controlled here in Australia, and they do work hard to keep the mob and mob-related people out. The occasional flutter on Melbourne Cup Day however is seen as patriotism by most, not gambling. But the Casinos are neither owned nor operated by the Government, and you know who the investors are going to align with. It's not for nothing the favorite media euphemism for a certain job category is "colourful racing personality".
If you stay out of the finance end of gambling you might get to keep your kneecaps, no matter who runs it. Just remember, Las Vegas wasn't built by winning gamblers - Las Vegas was built on the backs of losers.
I don't mind buying the occasional lottery ticket (not often) because I consider it a fun thing to underwrite the sudden wealth of some poor sod somewhere in the country. Luck tax, if you like. But ponies, pokies, roulette & all that? You're just paying someone else's neon bill. Do the math.
I've been to casinos a few times in my life. A couple of times I came out with more than I started with, but more often I didn't. In my opinion you can only justify entering a casino by having two key criterias along:
1) Expecting to lose.
2) A sum of already withdrawn cash which you are prepared to lose, you may use your credit card for one purpose, and that would be ordering foods or drinks.
Keep this in mind and you'll have a fun time without getting broke. This has worked for me everytime.
As an Apple fanboy
Fanboy basically means "no matter if they do good or bad I'll follow them", which is just another way of saying "I'm a fucking idiot". Seriously, being called fanboy is a bad thing.
Why does it feel like I'm wasting my time?
Just to get things straight bloodhawk said:
Don't remember AMD cheating, But then I have only more recently become a big ATI fan, However Nvidia has a long history of benchmark cheating in drivers in order to make there stuff look better than it is and many times it was far more blatant than what intel is doing here
At the time of quack.exe ATI wasn't owned by AMD, cheating or no cheating we've got to be clear on that one.
Using their technique, we can now profile our cards to provide maximum protection with minimum tinfoil!
I have one of those metal card holders which, at first, I was disappointed at since it isolated my RFID keycard at work, because it would be very convenient to just flash the whole card holder. Then I came to my senses and realised that it was a good thing that I always chose when the card was readable and when it was't. It was one of those moments when you just appreciate what you have.
High-voltage direct current
Is that you Edison? Look I already won the bet, so whatever you're trying to pull off here doesn't count.
Sincerely,
Nikolai
PS. Jackass DS.
Really, I think I'm funny.
You are. :-)
And that troll mod was uncalled for.
I've seen amazing things done with ceramics.
Why am I only seeing that scene from the movie Ghost? Damn you Patrick and your legacy.
Is a poke really communication?
I'm thinking of people who send random pokes to their contact lists all the time, without any actual communication meaning to them.
Moreover... poking on Facebook only actually works if the person has added you as their friend.
If you went to court to get a no-contact order against someone else, why the heck would you add or keep them as your friend on facebook?
Everything status update, every message you post shows up as a communication to all your friends... so you're actually initiating contact with them!
In the case of two friends it might be completely meaningless. In the case of someone with a restraining order against the other: what do you think? Look if you're so careless that you "accidently" communicate, in any way, with someone which has a restraining order against you, then I hope the judge hands out at least one implied facepalm.
When you already speak the world language, what other language is there any benefit to learning? You can speak English all over the world, learn French and you might use it once in your life.
Well as much as I'd wish that was true -- it's not. All countries speaking latin languages have a hard time coping with English, some of them horribly (Spain, France, Italy) and others ok (Portugal). Other than that Germany has slight difficulties with English as well, while e.g. most of Scandinavia speak fluent English. This is only Europe though, I'm not sure what goes for South America, but from what I've heard they don't speak too much english either. In business however English is the key in almost any country, except perhaps Japan since they are just rich enough to say "You know what? Fuck English, have them learn Japanese".
Would it have been better if they had just not bothered with Linux at all?
Seriously, all you people do is whine.
I am posting anonumously to preserve my spent mod points in this article. Why is this a troll? It is a valid question. Asus tried with Linux and the hand of MS smacked them across the face for it and they relented. Do they not deserve some praise or at the very least some sort of acknowledgement that they even tried to begin with? I am sure Asus would be happy to continue to sell the Linux versions because there is a customer base with demand and very little cost to Asus to meet that demand. You all make it sound like Asus did this because they were playing a sick joke on everyone.
You make a good point, the AC to whom you replied to did not. To answer your question: 12-year-olds posting silly nonsense usually get marked troll.
Stealing is actually great for the economy... think about it.
I understand your point, but let's move aside from the bullshitters (RIAA, MPAA etc.) rhetorics and ask the real question: is copying good for the economy? But let's elaborate and ask an even more important question, is copying good for humanity?
harming the economy
Right, like they would have bought it if they couldn't pirate it.
I love this bullshit. As you say, there's no way of telling how many percent of those who pirated would actually buy the software at hand. In my experience often people pirate because they're lazy, meaning they know some program from a while back and instead of looking for a free alternative they just pirate it because they're used to it. But also sometimes they actually need that program, however more often they don't.
Also it's very easy to throw expressions such as "harming the economy" around. But let's think about what this means. If, and we have to remember the big if here, there would be a significant increase in such sales -- instead of people looking for free and/or open source alternatives (which by the way is already happening, anyway let's continue with the hypothesis) -- then in an international aspect this would harm the economy as the national currency would be weakened due to less trade. HOWEVER (one of those important caps moments) -- don't forget that piracy is also an international phenomenon, meaning if all countries have 10% piracy it would be -- in terms of economic balance, exactly the same as if we had 0% -- or 80%.
What about national level? Well at national level the currency would merely shift towards those selling the software, as they collect the fees.
What about the personal economy? Well you would have a slightly stronger currency (given that other countries ignore piracy) yet you would still, at a personal level, make a loss.
Now let's ignore the moral aspects here, you can yell theft all you want but that's another discussion. This discussion was about the economy and how someone tries to bullshit you from this angle to change your mind. Change your mind for the right reasons, if you consider it theft then fine, but don't eat whatever crap that's thrown at you. By using the expressions such as "economy", a very big machine which can be difficult to understand, you can persuade somebody into a lot of things, since ultimately they will tend to feel stupid because they cannot break down the concept and understand how this hurts the economy -- you see no explanation is given, and that's the point of the argument. So if you feel stupid, that's even more of a reason to ask the question: why?
The joke was: those countries don't generally understand English. All except Finland, I just included Finland for shits and giggles.
...to welcome our European overlords.
Thank you. Now Europeans!
Vorwärts!
En avant!
Adelante!
Avanti!
Eteenpäin!
And to the rest of you: onward!