Pirated Software, sinful?

[Ray_Scheel]

wOoKiE:

I disagree with all of you.
It wasn’t my choice to live in a society that has Operating systems, microsoft office (open office doesnt open on anyone elses pc) graphic manipulation programs etc as indispensable (they are in my line of study).

OpenOffice will save in a RTF format, which will open predictably on just about everything. I use it frequently and the vast majority of the people I send files to for personal stuff don’t realize I don’t have MS Office on my personal home PC. Having to take an extra step when saving a file to send out is not a sufficient justification to pirate a software package.

The Gimp (windows version available at gimp-win.sourceforge.net/ ) can handle just about any graphic manipulation need you might have, and is certainly a better product than any of the MS graphic manipulation options.

wOoKiE:

Not only are they indispensable but they are ridiculously expensive and overpriced, self-perpetuating (the more microsoft stuff you have, the more updates and new versions you’ll need to buy at some stage) and make millionaires out of people who would enslave us with their creations given the chance.

MS has good deals on education priced versions of their software. So do most software foirms for that matter, including a few (like Adobe and Macromedia) that offer legitimate versions for education use at extremely reduced rates. Not much credit on the upgrade path, but like you said, your concern is just getting through college, where you can buy a full version later.

As far as requiring paid upgrades, my wife is still fairly happy with the 2000 Office, Dreamweaver 3, Fireworks 3, and a Corel Graphics suite dating to 1998 on WinME, plus the DVD software suite that came bundled with the drive we installed when the original CD burner died. For all her other software needs (outside of the Sims games), she is using free or open-source packages. Anti-virus, email, ad/spy protection, code editors, sound editors, whatever - its available for free. Recently she’s made some noises about upgrading to XP and getting a newer editions of Dreamweaver, but I think that will pass after I rebuild the system, which has been flaking out more than even an ME box should…

wOoKiE:

As a penniless student I (and every other student in my uni) have no reasonable choice but to obtain software any way we can. When I am gainfully employed, I will buy the software I need, despite my misgivings about who the money goes to.

You can always use it in the labs on campus, or if that’s not available, join together and pressure the administrators to explain why you are being essentially forced to pirate software in order to complete your assignments. But if what you need is already available in the labs, you’ve lost the little bit of justification you might have had through an argument form necessity, as an inconvenience does not a necessity make… By continuing to use those products instead of utilizing the other options available, you are actually tying yourself to buying those upgrades that are supposed to be a reason to avoid buying the product in the first place.

 

[didymus]

wOoKiE:

I disagree with all of you.
It wasn’t my choice to live in a society that has Operating systems, microsoft office (open office doesnt open on anyone elses pc) graphic manipulation programs etc as indispensable (they are in my line of study).

OpenOffice will save in MS Works format as well as RTF, TXT & HTML. And it can be used to open MS Office presentation stuff – that’s the reason I got it, ny brother sent me something he’d made up.
I’ll admit it is kind of sluggish but, hey, it’s free.

If everyone will forgive a plug, there’s tons of excellent freeware at: pricelessware.org/thelist/index.htm

 

[Topher]

If it is sinful, I don’t know whether or not it is mortal or venial. Think about this. To steal ten dollars from a rich person is a venial sin. To still ten dollars from a poor person is a mortal sin. Now the companies that produces software are very very rich. One pirated program sold to any individual person does not do serious damage to the company. The overall effect of many people using pirated software may affect the company but each individual person is only responsible for their own actions.

 

[Al_Masetti]

Other.

Some companies prosecute folks who pirate their software. So it’s a sin.

Other companies encourage piracy to build market share. So it’s not a sin.

Then there’s always Linux.

 

[Ray_Scheel]

Topher:

If it is sinful, I don’t know whether or not it is mortal or venial. Think about this. To steal ten dollars from a rich person is a venial sin. To still ten dollars from a poor person is a mortal sin. Now the companies that produces software are very very rich. One pirated program sold to any individual person does not do serious damage to the company. The overall effect of many people using pirated software may affect the company but each individual person is only responsible for their own actions.

Whether a sin is mortal or venial has nothing to do with the economic status of the victim. It is the state of mind / intent of the sinner that counts.

It also bears pointing out that slander and gossip are considered sinful partly because of the significant cumulative effect. Just one person talking bad about someone once isn’t such a bad thing, but the accumulate effect can be devestation. Also, the habit of those sins is to grow in scope rapidly as one starts to engage in them - a pattern quite similar to the typical software piracy model.

 

[proudnifi]

I voted that pirating software is a sin. Pirates were (are) robbers; pirating software is theft (breaks a Commandment).

It does not matter who the victim is or how much money they have. It does not matter who I am or how much money I have. What matters is that I am taking or using something without the owner’s permission (and against their specific terms, whatever their terms are).

I am not familiar with companies encouraging software piracy. Shareware is a different animal; the company is giving everyone the right to the program - no theft, no piracy.

I am pretty sure that a mortal/venial decision has nothing to do with amount (has more to do with the mindset of the potential sinner).

I have heard people suggest that a larger theft is a bigger deal. The main concept did not change though. Also, if the amount in question is only, say $1, then why did the person steal the money? If someone is willing to steal over “nothing”, what does that really say?

Lastly, God does not send people to hell. People make choices.

 

[FuzzyBunny116]

I say, in some cases not.

For me, the only music I downloaded were songs that I wasn’t going to buy in the first place.

The way I figure it, stealing is wrong because it takes away from what someone has, or would have had in this case. They were not going to have my money in the first place, so whats wrong if I take some songs? It was just a few here and there, and so few were actually on the same CD. I did take quite a few Alan Jackson songs, so I went out and bought a CD with them on it because of that.

A friend burnt me some movies that I was never going to have anyway. I’ll admit, I was going to rent one of them at some point (I’ll put in a few more dollars in the collection plate).

Now, looking through this I also came to the realization that a game I burned WAS stealing. I was going to buy it in the first place, but I got it burned instead. I plan on buying it soon, hopefully.

Thats my philosophy at least.