I'm absolutely certain this post will get ripped to shreds, but let's have at anyhow...
First off, yes, piracy is wrong - in the legal sense, it is absolutely wrong.
Morality is a different issue, however. Morality is relative to the person. Ask someone in the 1800s if pre-marital coitus was immoral, and you'd get a resounding yes. Ask folks now, and that resounding yes has stifled to a trickling maybe. Same act, same ramifications, different response.
Now, take into account that different people justify piracy to themselves for different purposes. To some, piracy is free entertainment. To others, it is a way to make money. To still others, it's a way to try the real deal before sinking THEIR hard earned money into what may be an over-hyped POS. I would personally argue that the first 2 groups are absolutely in the moral wrong. However, for me at least, the third group is a gray area. We have the right of the developer not to be ripped off for their hard work, versus the right of the consumer not to be ripped off for the hard work they did to earn the money. Morally, it's an impasse. The only decisive input is the law.
Bottom line, not all developers are starving artists, and not all pirates are immoral greed-fiends.
Interesting idea - pay for play. That's what most MMORPGs do. Unfortunately they also tack on a $50 tag up front just for the 'privelege to pay further to use the game'.
As far as Monkey Island, I prefer King's Quest, but unfortunately, most gameplayers these days seem to require:
1) 3D Graphics (Notice it's #1 on the list?)
2) 3D Graphics (No, not an accidental reprint)
3) Big Weapons / Historically Accurate Weapons
4) Bleeding edge sports rosters
5) No thought to play.
First off, I wasn't taking sides when I asked, I simply asked.
Secondly, unless I am gravely mistaken, his comment was in reference to breast-feeding, a common trait of nearly all mammalian infants. We apologize if the word "nipple" causes you to freak out.
Before the inevitable happens, I would point out that though "breast-feeding" is much more direct, and less "sexually-tinged", it is also an action, as opposed to an interface - which is, I believe, what was being discussed.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.
So, perhaps if production is cheaper (I bet tea is cheaper than chemical compunds), then maybe HDD prices will drop a bit? Or maybe margins will increase for PC part sales. Bah.
This is very well stated, and the first in many, many, many screens of posts that didn't make me want to smack someone.
The point is exactly that - differentiation between the people that make GIMP, and the people who use PS. What we need is what the old Demoscene had in the 80s and 90s - coders writing with and for the musicians, graphics artists, modelers, etc.
I don't remember much complaining by MODule composers when Scream Tracker was released by Future Crew back in the day...
1) Number of books on related topic doesn't directly equaty to difficulty. It could also be said that it relates to popularity.
2) "...any complaint from a photoshop user should be taken with a grain of salt." - This is like saying that non-English speakers complaining that English is one of the more difficult to learn languages is simply because it's not THEIR language, and therefore, their opinion is irrelevant. In reality, it has been widely agreed (even among English speaking folk) that English - especially American English - IS one of the most difficult to learn languages.
And before flaming me for being a Photoshop fanatic, re-read any posts I have on the subject, and note I haven't once mentioned an affinity for either product.
How did a GIMP v. Photoshop argument turn into a rant about sexist nipple sucking piko commie racist mass murdering punk rock infants? Ok, so I added half of that for effect, but still, come on folks... Look over the board. Logical argument (in the Greek sense, not the 3rd grade sense) turned into bordering violent flamewar, and socio-political bashing? What have we come to?
I tend to agree - as long as the tags are disabled at checkout, and not personally linked to me as an individual, there's no big problem.
On the other side, would disabling the chip once leaving the store actually go against the DMCA?
Yeah, I know the feeling - I'm younger than that, but on the same path. Started on the C64 in the 80's when I was a wee one, then on to GWBASIC & QBASIV & VBASIC, then C, C++, etc. Now I go to school for it, and hope to find a niche.
How does it feel to be a penny, tossed into a self servicing system? Noone asked M$ to redefine music. For that matter, I doubt many intelligent folk will appreciate it. But then, this is a country made up of 39.5 billion cows, sheep, and chickens, give or take a few foxes and wolves.
On the one hand, slashdotters have it down pat. This new service is BS. They're making up the figures to boost their confidence into releasing the product. Just like the typical top 100 radio countdowns. It's #1 because it's the most played, and it's the most played beause it's #1. Who actually stops to realize this when they listen to the local pop station?
On the other hand, the conglom's have it. Feed the complacent populace used-kitty-litter on a bun, tell them it's McDonald's newest dollar menu item, and they'll eat it up.
It's a war not to be won, but to be ignored.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm absolutely certain this post will get ripped to shreds, but let's have at anyhow...
First off, yes, piracy is wrong - in the legal sense, it is absolutely wrong.
Morality is a different issue, however. Morality is relative to the person. Ask someone in the 1800s if pre-marital coitus was immoral, and you'd get a resounding yes. Ask folks now, and that resounding yes has stifled to a trickling maybe. Same act, same ramifications, different response.
Now, take into account that different people justify piracy to themselves for different purposes. To some, piracy is free entertainment. To others, it is a way to make money. To still others, it's a way to try the real deal before sinking THEIR hard earned money into what may be an over-hyped POS. I would personally argue that the first 2 groups are absolutely in the moral wrong. However, for me at least, the third group is a gray area. We have the right of the developer not to be ripped off for their hard work, versus the right of the consumer not to be ripped off for the hard work they did to earn the money. Morally, it's an impasse. The only decisive input is the law.
Bottom line, not all developers are starving artists, and not all pirates are immoral greed-fiends.
Interesting idea - pay for play. That's what most MMORPGs do. Unfortunately they also tack on a $50 tag up front just for the 'privelege to pay further to use the game'.
As far as Monkey Island, I prefer King's Quest, but unfortunately, most gameplayers these days seem to require:
1) 3D Graphics (Notice it's #1 on the list?)
2) 3D Graphics (No, not an accidental reprint)
3) Big Weapons / Historically Accurate Weapons
4) Bleeding edge sports rosters
5) No thought to play.
There's always better ways to do things than with goto, unless you're programming QBASIC... but that's just my opinion :)
First off, I wasn't taking sides when I asked, I simply asked. Secondly, unless I am gravely mistaken, his comment was in reference to breast-feeding, a common trait of nearly all mammalian infants. We apologize if the word "nipple" causes you to freak out.
Before the inevitable happens, I would point out that though "breast-feeding" is much more direct, and less "sexually-tinged", it is also an action, as opposed to an interface - which is, I believe, what was being discussed.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.
So, perhaps if production is cheaper (I bet tea is cheaper than chemical compunds), then maybe HDD prices will drop a bit? Or maybe margins will increase for PC part sales. Bah.
This is very well stated, and the first in many, many, many screens of posts that didn't make me want to smack someone.
The point is exactly that - differentiation between the people that make GIMP, and the people who use PS. What we need is what the old Demoscene had in the 80s and 90s - coders writing with and for the musicians, graphics artists, modelers, etc.
I don't remember much complaining by MODule composers when Scream Tracker was released by Future Crew back in the day...
1) Number of books on related topic doesn't directly equaty to difficulty. It could also be said that it relates to popularity. 2) "...any complaint from a photoshop user should be taken with a grain of salt." - This is like saying that non-English speakers complaining that English is one of the more difficult to learn languages is simply because it's not THEIR language, and therefore, their opinion is irrelevant. In reality, it has been widely agreed (even among English speaking folk) that English - especially American English - IS one of the most difficult to learn languages. And before flaming me for being a Photoshop fanatic, re-read any posts I have on the subject, and note I haven't once mentioned an affinity for either product.
How did a GIMP v. Photoshop argument turn into a rant about sexist nipple sucking piko commie racist mass murdering punk rock infants? Ok, so I added half of that for effect, but still, come on folks... Look over the board. Logical argument (in the Greek sense, not the 3rd grade sense) turned into bordering violent flamewar, and socio-political bashing? What have we come to?
I tend to agree - as long as the tags are disabled at checkout, and not personally linked to me as an individual, there's no big problem. On the other side, would disabling the chip once leaving the store actually go against the DMCA?
Yeah, I know the feeling - I'm younger than that, but on the same path. Started on the C64 in the 80's when I was a wee one, then on to GWBASIC & QBASIV & VBASIC, then C, C++, etc. Now I go to school for it, and hope to find a niche.
How does it feel to be a penny, tossed into a self servicing system? Noone asked M$ to redefine music. For that matter, I doubt many intelligent folk will appreciate it. But then, this is a country made up of 39.5 billion cows, sheep, and chickens, give or take a few foxes and wolves. On the one hand, slashdotters have it down pat. This new service is BS. They're making up the figures to boost their confidence into releasing the product. Just like the typical top 100 radio countdowns. It's #1 because it's the most played, and it's the most played beause it's #1. Who actually stops to realize this when they listen to the local pop station? On the other hand, the conglom's have it. Feed the complacent populace used-kitty-litter on a bun, tell them it's McDonald's newest dollar menu item, and they'll eat it up. It's a war not to be won, but to be ignored.