Directx8 and Microsoft

[paulcs]

It's from Big Daddy Roth's website. They're having a model building contest.

http://www.ratfink.org/

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 15 September 2000).]

[ski]

For all of you non-beta testers the Dx8 does install an unistall proggie. I dont remember where it is though. But it is their I am beta testing Dx8 and I had to use it

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[High_Jumbllama]

Originally posted by Paulr:

I simply alerted both manufacturers to a couple of sites that were illegally offering these software titles for download.
As way of thanks each company sent me a full copy of the software.
Even my OS's is fully legal, OEM Win 3.11 came with my very first PC.
You can legally transfer it over to another PC so long as the old copy os deleted, and then retail upgrade to Win95, Win98 & Win2000.
I'm sorry if I'm in a minority, but I will always pay for what I use.

Paying for your stuff admirable. Heck, I do too. Tattling on other people to get copies o' software. Pathetic.

[Paulr]

No, I don't think so.
It shows I have some moral standards.
Here is how it went:
I use a site called www.askme.com
It's a site where people can leave questions on many subjects and others can answer them.
One guy had spammed into almost all of the computer related forums that he had just upped this great site where you can download applications for free.
I simply e-mailed a couple of the companies who were having their software ripped off and alerted them, along with the ISP that was hosting the site.

Pathetic no.
What is pathetic is the total disregard for all things copywrite.
How many times have I seen in some forums 'I've just installed Win2k Advanced Server and Quake 2 wont run'
Yer, like you paid for that didn't you.
I don't know how this thread has managed to go from me trying to get somebody to understand that they aren't entitled to beta software to a big debate of software piracy, but somehow it has.
My bold statement:
Anybody who uses or distributes pirate software is scum.

Now I'm really sorry if that one statement has upset anybody, but that is my opinion.
If I get spam e-mail or spam in fourms I use ramming warez and pirate software down my throat then I will go out of my way to get the site in question closed down.
If the ISP in question doesn't want to listen to me, then I will contact the people who are being ripped off.
Why is it that everybody in the world feels they are entitled to things for free?
That is bordering on communism, a system that works great in theory but fails in practice.
So, as far as I'm conserned let the warez & pirate sites live, what business is it of mine?
However, if I recieve e-mail or a post in a forum than I frequent then suddenly it is MY business and I will do what I feel is morally correct.
I'm sorry if I've upset anybody with their gold CD copies of Win2k Advanced Server on their home PC's.
If anybody fancies starting a new thread on this in the misc area I'd be more than happy to contribute my feelings.

[Joel]

Two thumbs up <IMG SRC="http://forums.murc.ws/ubb/icons/icon14.gif" ALT="Your description" BORDER="0"></A> <IMG SRC="http://forums.murc.ws/ubb/icons/icon14.gif" ALT="Your description" BORDER="0"></A> for Paulr.

Joel

[paulcs]

I'm going to have to disagree vehemently.

Where I'm from, very little is held in more contempt than informing on someone and profiting from it. Even the police, who are somewhat dependant on the practice, show nothing but contempt for it. High_Jumbllama used the most kind word we have for it: tattling, which is usually reserved for children. The remainder of the vocabulary we use for paid informants is far more unkind: rat, fink (or ratfink), stool pigeon, stoolie, snitch, etc.

The reference to communism, aside from being ridiculously simplistic, is far too ironic for my tastes. I believe this to be a character issue as much as a question of ethics. If there's anything worse than a thief, it's a rat.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 17 September 2000).]

[DosFreak]

"Anybody who uses or distributes pirate software is scum"

I didn't know Pirates made software.

[paulcs]

Shiver me timbers!

Paul
paulcs

[Joel]

Those who use pirated software will disagree with him while those who don't will agree with him.

And Paulr, I know where you are coming from and what ridicule you will endure for your good charcter and good conscience, because I went through the same thing just a few weeks back in a thread very simular to this on the Soap Box forum. Hang in there dude.

And paulcs,
"Even the police, who are somewhat dependant on the practice, show nothing but contempt for it."
That's a very contradicting statement isn't it? I mean the justice system does it all the time. It's called a plea bargin and most will tell you that without it most crimes would never be solved.

Joel

[DosFreak]

"Anybody who uses or distributes pirate software is scum"

Well Well Well. I guess MANY a business's are scum including the U.S. Military. I hope Big Bill doesn't do a License check of NT4/5 on Military computers........

[Pace]

Ooh, guess I'd better tip off Microsoft about this - that'd be a bit of a comeback in this court case! Wonder how much money the Gov't would be due him!

"Ok Bill, we'll overlook this little, mild, infringement"

Lol, Paul.

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[paulcs]

Then there's the matter of all those schools in the UK that Microsoft has been nagging lately. I would assume the folks in Redmond can only push this so far. Suing schools throughout the United Kingdom would be a public relations nightmare.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Joel]

And we all wonder why software cost so much.

I mean if I was selling something and half of my product was taken without payment for it, then to recoup the lost profit I would have to raise the price on that which is actually paid for or go out of business. Then the ones truely getting screwed are those that were willing to pay for it.

Joel

[This message has been edited by Joel (edited 17 September 2000).]

[Paulr]

Well it appears that I'm not the only one who feels that you should pay for what you use.
I don't know if I expected more support, but I guess in this day and age.....no.
I play UO and in the Usenet forum's some guy posted a message asking how he could get one of the pro add-on's (that costs about $20 I think) downloaded for free.
This one post started one of the biggest threads over there with everybody attacking him.
Now I know Usenet is an unfriendly place at the best of times, but it was quite good to see so many people saying 'go out and buy it'.
And so the circle goes on.
Software is warez'ed, the company looses income, so their next product costs more, so it gets warez'ed again.

I hate it when companies are not fully licensed to use the products they do.
Maybe MS should start doing spot checks on large companies, I believe they have the power to do so.
Up until recently I had been doing a lot of contract work.
I had worked for about 5 companies, each contract lasting 6 months +.
Every sinlge one of those companies I worked for was operating fully legally when I left.
What they do is no consern on mine, I did my job.
The same goes for the company where I have just taken a permanant position.
Within three weeks of me starting they had orders for a few thousand £'s so that they are now operating legally.

[Rags]

Win2k is the BEST OS I have had installed on my machine in years. It is the best money I've spent in a long time that went towards purchasing an operating system.

Since installing it freshly over 4 months ago (rather than install over beta/introductory installs), it has been absolutely stable. Not a single OS crash at all. I have had apps crash, games crash, and none of them took down the OS. I only reboot when I get new drivers for my video card, or install a program that requires reboot. Generally my system stays up for around a week or two, and at one time almost a month 24/7. No memory leaks, no resource loss, no slowdowns.


Rags