No Subject

[chuck <cswiger@widomaker.com>]

  Norm writes:
  
  >     I totally agree with you on this point.  The notion that in
  >essence all we do is rent software is ridiculous, and I'll tell everyone
  >here right now that I refuse to abide by such license agreements
  >(agreement is really a misnomer though, especially since you rarely ever
  >see it until AFTER you've already bought the product).  As far as I'm
  >concerned I *bought* the product and beyond stealing it (by allowing
  >anyone else to copy and use it) I'll do whatever I want with it.  I'm all
  >for protecting anyone's intellectual property, but if I'm buying the
  >product I'll use it as I see fit.
  
  That's another thing the probably cornfuses a lot of software 'consumers' -
  when you purchase a shrink-wrapped box off the shelf, you are not really
  'buying the rights' or ownership of that product - you are purchasing a
  license to use, and there are some legal restrictions on what you can do.
  
  For instance, you cannot pirate it by making copies and selling them for 
  your own personal profit. It's similar to, say, purchasing a video tape of,
  say, Jurassic Park for $80 or whatever. It's sold for individual viewing only.
  You cannot, say, open up a theatre and charge people .50 to view it.
  Of course you CAN, but you can also be arrested for it.
  Of course you can also buy the copyright to Jurassic Park, but I think
  Spielberg will want quite a bit for it!  Ted Turner bought MGM, which means
  he can colorize, show for profit, do whatever he wants with the old classics,
  but he paid dearly for it. He doesn't just pop into the local video rental, pick
  something to show on the superstation for $4 and charge thousands to have
  ads interleaved in it!
  
  BTW, 'renting' software is illegal, except, I think, for vid game carts (which aren't
  easily copied). We used to have stores around here that 'rented' software [oh yeah,
  and they sold lots of blank floppies with that 'rental'] - then they shut down for
  a while before coming back with - "Oh, this is TRY BEFORE YOU BUY" (for $5
  usually), regardless of the fact that few people actually buy [and they still sell 
  lots of blank floppies with that 'trial'].
  
  Chuck