Re: Woohooo! Dell + Linux

On Sun, 01 Apr 2007 11:43:09 -0500
Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@xxxxxxx> wrote:

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On 04/01/07 11:26, Celejar wrote:
On Sun, 1 Apr 2007 11:07:37 +0300
Andrei Popescu <andreimpopescu@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Celejar <celejar@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sat, 31 Mar 2007 03:44:18 +0300
Andrei Popescu <andreimpopescu@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[snip]

An interesting trend is that some small businesses who can't afford
to run pirated software, but also don't want/can't afford to pay
for MS Office are using OpenOffice.
Only those who "can't afford to run pirated software"? Are there none
who respect the legal or moral rights of software producers?
Willingly? When the average income is ~200 EUR/month and some software
suite costs ~700EUR, moral considerations come second. The only
questions is if you are likely to have a visit from the BSA or not!

Are you arguing that poverty justifies stealing? I certainly agree that

Justifies? No.

Explains? Yes. Especially for something as ephemeral as software
and when created by a Big American Company.

I agree, and I implicitly accepted as much in my next few lines.

that we should consider mitigating factors when judging (formally or
informally) or punishing (judicially or extra-judicially) a thief, but
insofar as one recognizes a legal or moral basis for intellectual
property, then low income levels do not justify flouting the owners'
rights, especially since quality free alternatives exist.

Unless that culture does not have the concept of intellectual property.

I explicitly wrote "insofar as one recognizes a legal or moral basis
for intellectual property".

Celejar


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