An interesting debate has started on Marcus' Macro Blog.
Read the post by Marcus, then the comments.
This is the one that interests me:
“I would happily utilize a pirated version of your software to help my clients lead independent lives if I trusted it to be virus-free (which I could do by using it at home first). Moreover, I would not fear that by doing this you wouldn't be able to pay your morgage. I would be more concerned about whether my client can continue to pay his landlord’s morgage.”
Interesting. This person, who goes by the name of Jacob, is basically arguing that because some of the people he works with have no money, he would have no qualms about stealing whatever software he needed or wanted.
For some reason, I don't like this approach.
“I have no money, therefore I have no problem with stealing.”
I wonder if Jacob applies the same rules to cars and food.
If he walked past a car with the keys in, would he steal it? Surely he'd need it more than the owner.
Would he walk into his local grocery store and take whatever he needed without paying?
Maybe he should start with his local bank. They certainly have far more money than they need.
I'm just glad I don't live next door to Jacob.
Oh and note what Marcus says:
“If you had emailed us with your story and explained how you could use Macro Scheduler to better the life of your client and asked us if we could provide a free version, we would have said yes and we would have provided a copy free of charge, or at the very least, for a big discount. We have done this in the past.”
