Subj : Re: Forced registration i To : Bill Lucy From : Geo. Date : Fri Mar 30 2001 11:23 am From: "Geo." "Bill Lucy" wrote in message news:MPG.152dcefe1b90a6b2989cf2@news.barkto.com... > > What is interesting about this thought experiment is that 8 years from now, that > same kid may be an architect using tools he "stole" at 16. If AutoDesk is > selling AutoCAD 22, the firm will be buying another license. > > My feeling is that piracy is a future sales event. It's a balancing act. A company may not want to discourage pirates who would not otherwise buy the software, but if they allow people who obviously would pay for the software to go and pirate it then it's lost sales. A real loss of income. I honestly believe that some piracy is beneficial to a software vendor. I've often wondered why they don't release older versions (say photoshop3) as shareware just to knock all the other competition off the market and give kids some free training in their product for exactly the reason you stated above. Geo. --- BBBS/NT v4.00 MP * Origin: Barktopia Gating Project http://HarborWebs.com:8081 (1:379/45) .