Answer Truthfully Now...

[Franko]

I suppose so.  I have the good fortune of having inherited an appreciation for British humor from my grandmother, who is full-blood Limey, which gives me a little more rounding, I like to think.  I think the difference in this case would be the touchiness of the subject, though we may conjecture for a while on whether it should be so or not.  The only offense I take to a conversation with certain implications is when said conversation may work to negate any comment made in honesty, whether mine or anyone else's, which was my perception.  My apologies are offered in the case the intention was otherwise.  Indeed, this is a heated debate, that of piracy and copyright.

Irrespective on whether we agree with each other on the fundamental subject, it would still be my pleasure to order us up a round, after which we could continue to have spirited debate.

Cheers, and I am off to watch my football (REAL football, not what you blokes call soccer :laughing: which may be another touchy subject, yeah?) team not suck just enough to win.  *sigh*  I am afraid it will be another season like that for us while we attempt to rebuild.

Hi Loadwb,

Glad we are able to agree to differ on our points of view, your offer to buy a round is most generous, but you do realize that with me being Scottish this could prove to be quite costly and not very good for the liver as we Scots are a bit partial to anything containing alcohol and don't understand the words 'closing time' or 'last orders at the bar'...

As for football, here it's nothing more than a game played by a bunch of overpaid nancy boys, who feign injury when someone steps on their boot laces or knocks their hair out of place, but yes thats another subject...

(quick note, it's not wise to call us Scots 'British', thats a very touchy subject... :roflmao:)

Cheers :drink:

Franko

[Franko]

Just visited my Facebook page and found this post on it from my brother in law in the states, odd coincidence, but seems like piracy/copyright wars, who's right and who's wrong, are being fought all over the place right now...

http://torrentfreak.com/4chan-ddos-takes-down-mpaa-and-anti-piracy-websites-100918/

[Boot_WB]

Well, I guess there aren't many Mech Engineers here who are looking to keep their skills up-to-date then. If there are, then how do you personally afford the four-figure license fees for Ansys, AutoCAD, Soldworks, Pro-Engineer etc to keep your skills up-to-date?

I'm nottalking about using them as productivity tools, just in terms of maintaining familiarity and assimilating new features. And please don't tell me that you work within the demo limitations (eg 100 nodes limit for models) - I mean, really!

[stefcep2]

But you're about to imply that there is absolutely no way that we could be running legally clean systems. That we're lying.

It's called open source software, you might want to look into it.

You might be now, but I seriously doubt you NEVER did.  And I'm not talking about Ubuntu shipit.

Its not unheard of for games developers to use pirated graphics software to create their games and then bitch about their games being pirated.

I'm with Franko.  I refuse to believe that  someone has purchased all their software/media new, or paid all their shareware reg fees, in their entire computing history.

[stefcep2]

IMO the biggest copyright issue is that of copyrighting human genes.  Hospitals have to pay licensing fees for diagnostic tests that have the potential to identify the risk of cancer in an individual, but if the patient won't pay upto $4000 in fees, they won't be told of their risk, and that could adversally effect their health outcome.  In Aus there is a major gov't enquiry on if its possibly to copyright genes, most of which have been patentetd by US companies and licensed to local labs.

[Franko]

IMO the biggest copyright issue is that of copyrighting human genes.  Hospitals have to pay licensing fees for diagnostic tests that have the potential to identify the risk of cancer in an individual, but if the patient won't pay upto $4000 in fees, they won't be told of their risk, and that could adversally effect their health outcome.  In Aus there is a major gov't enquiry on if its possibly to copyright genes, most of which have been patentetd by US companies and licensed to local labs.

Interesting topic, but surely no one else could claim copyright on an individuals genes as you would be the owner and anyone using your genes would be infringing on your copyrights... could be a whole new thread that one...

[Karlos]

I'm with Franko.  I refuse to believe that  someone has purchased all their software/media new, or paid all their shareware reg fees, in their entire computing history.

Whatever, but this is not what the question in the poll is asking:

Do you Currently Use Any Copyrighted Software That Haven't Actually Paid For...

[Fats]

Fats said:

I bought this computer with Windows and MS Office installed from my employer and I should have a license via my employer.

--------

Nah, if you bought a computer and it happened to have some software on its not down to you transfer the license.  After all its still licensed and paid for, just in someone else's name.

When my employer sells computers to the employees they reinstall the PCs with Windows and MS Office fully license compliant with MS. MS knows that these PCs are sold to the employees and my employer tells me I should delete the software when I would not be employed there anymore.
I did install Linux on that same machine and am running Windows and MS Office inside VirtualBox and this is probably illegal but frankly I don't give a damn.
For the rest I try to use fully license compliant software; mostly FOSS that is; sometimes just free software; most of the time open source software.

greets,
Staf.

[stefcep2]

Interesting topic, but surely no one else could claim copyright on an individuals genes as you would be the owner and anyone using your genes would be infringing on your copyrights... could be a whole new thread that one...

Well AFAIK, the genes that code for most (like >99%) of  human proteins are identical from person to person.  Certain mutations on certain genes cause certain diseases.  There are companies that know the presence of which genes cause cancers like breast cancers and bowel cancer, but you have to pay a licensing fee to be told if you have that particular gene sequence.  For breast cancer, if a patient wants to know if they have the genetic sequence that has a high probability of causing cancer, the patient has to pay a "licensing fee" of $4000.

In Aus the Court case to make gene patents illegal, centres on the fact that human genes are not "innovations", but rather "discoveries" and therefore not patentable.

[stefcep2]

Whatever, but this is not what the question in the poll is asking:

So what does it mean if you have it but don't use it?

[Karlos]

So what does it mean if you have it but don't use it?

If you don't use it, then, logically you can't currently be using it, so the answer would seem to be "no".

[Franko]

If you don't use it, then, logically you can't currently be using it, so the answer would seem to be "no".

Ere Karlos, don't start bringing logic into this thing, me and logic just don't understand each other...

[stefcep2]

If you don't use it, then, logically you can't currently be using it, so the answer would seem to be "no".

logically.

But the arguments have taken on an emotive track.

Leander felt he was being treated with "contempt" for not being believed.  He expressed some strong emotions, calling Franko a "muppet", (something he regularly resorts to whenever someone doesn't agree with his POV, but never seems to be moderated for.)

Along the same lines was this @LoadWB:

What I find interesting in this thread is the apparent contempt for anyone who would purport to not use any pirated (unpaid-for copyrighted) software. The label of "Mother Teresa" and the claim of a "mundane life" stinks of elitism in the face of a full lack of holier-than-thou from anyone else, which has existed to a large extent in other threads.

The problem I have with this is that unless you've NEVER used unpaid/pirated software then it lacks credibility to be so precious ie "Oh yes I USED to have pirated software, but I don't anymore, so now I take deep personal offense that you dare question that I no longer do".

[Karlos]

The problem I have with this is that unless you've NEVER used unpaid/pirated software then it lacks credibility to be so precious ie "Oh yes I USED to have pirated software, but I don't anymore, so now I take deep personal offense that you dare question that I no longer do".

I think a person that has sincerely reformed themselves has every right to be offended at having their sincerity questioned on the basis of their previous behaviour.

Would you think it fair to exhibit the same brand of cynicism towards someone claiming to be teetotal and "never touching a drop" on the basis of their previous alcoholism?

"Oh come on, you must have a wee tipple every now and again! You used to sink bottles of the stuff!"

[stefcep2]

I think a person that has sincerely reformed themselves has every right to be offended at having their sincerity questioned on the basis of their previous behaviour.

Would you think it fair to exhibit the same brand of cynicism towards someone claiming to be teetotal and "never touching a drop" on the basis of their previous alcoholism?

"Oh come on, you must have a wee tipple every now and again! You used to sink bottles of the stuff!"

No but if it were me I wouldn't be incredulous about it and would understand why someone might have their doubts.

[LoadWB]

Well, I guess there aren't many Mech Engineers here who are looking to keep their skills up-to-date then. If there are, then how do you personally afford the four-figure license fees for Ansys, AutoCAD, Soldworks, Pro-Engineer etc to keep your skills up-to-date?

I'm nottalking about using them as productivity tools, just in terms of maintaining familiarity and assimilating new features. And please don't tell me that you work within the demo limitations (eg 100 nodes limit for models) - I mean, really!

I am not sure if it is still doing so, but for a while during the start of the recession AutoDesk was offering a 60- or 90-day license for engineers who found themselves without a job.  I believe DataCAD was doing the same, but I cannot speak for the others.  Not sure how much that helps at this point considering how long and drawn out the economic downturn has been or will continue to be.

As well, if while during your down-time you enroll in a local community college or university to take some engineering or architectural classes, AutoDesk offers either reduced or free licensing for students.  I have been back taking a couple of classes a semester under a new program to keep me busy during my slow times.  When all is over, I will be much more marketable than I am now.