Kshitiz_Indian
Executive member
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2006
- Location
- New Delhi, India
mukund_nadkarni said:That if expecting other people to respect his right to earn a livelihood is correct then it is only fair to expect a similar response from him.
The software I make isn't the matter of your livelihood mate. Do playing games help your living? Does watching downloaded movies help your living? I'm not being inconsiderate, I'm just being watchful of my possesions.
And in situations where my software does help your living. Lets take a common example. I make Adobe Photoshop.
Many people use it to make graphics or do whatever, and earn and hence make a living. How do I make a living? I certainly don't do dishes, I make a living by the earnings I get from the software, on which I spent my countless hours which I might've also used to do dishes and get an earning. So what happens, in case those graphic designers can't pay me the money I've set on it? They download it.
What happens though? I could've done, say dishes in a restaurant worth $1000 in the production time. But I only got $100 from the few people that bought the software. That puts me in the loss, of a hefty $900. What could've I done with those $900? Well loads, and I don't need explanation here. My livelihood is destroyed. Now who's being inconsiderate here?
And what did those people who pirated it do? They downloaded my software, for free, made graphics out of those, and actually earnt from it - and buy all those things I SHOULD'VE bought. Making the software was MY special property, not every of those graphic designers can make a software. Just like the graphics the designers make are their property.
What happens in the end? I get frustrated and stop making the software. My livelihood is destroyed as I have practically nothing to do. Even if not so extreme, I get back to do dishes, and kill my special abilities. Who was the culprit here?
And lets see, what if those $900 actually didn't come to me as people downloaded open source software like Gimp? Don't I die now? Well I do take a loss, but it makes me make better software as I'll know that my better software will get rewarded.
Things are pretty complex, and to understand you have to delve deep into what happens. This is what I tried here.