How much pirated Amiga software did you have?

[fishy_fiz]

27

[fishy_fiz]

While I've pirated my share of software over the years (mostly back as a teenager on the amiga) I have no delusions that its not stealing. It's quite amusing to see some of the warped justification some people convince themselves of when it comes to piracy. "It's too expensive, its too crap, my mum was mean to me, etc, etc.". Too expensive, buy something else or save for it,... too crap, what the hell do you want it for ? There's also the amusing claim that sales arent lost because people wouldnt have paid for it anyway. Sure, not everyone would have bought what they easily stole, but some would. Marketting is effective and despite the products sometimes being crappy sales are still lost. If even 2 out of 10 people who pirated a copy of software bought it that still all adds up, possibly to a point where a company isnt losing money. It makes a difference. Having said all this though reason and logic will fall on deaf ears anyway. Those who delude themselves about piracy will always find a way to justify that its ok to themselves.
All this aside though pirating for yourself is one thing, but I absolutely despise anyone who sells other peoples work for gain (pirates who sell copied software). Kids are maybe an exception here as theyre not aware of what theyre doing exactly. Still wrong, but Im not going to hold it against them. One of the most amusing things I saw in recent times was a friends reaction at a local computer swap meet (I think called computer fairs in some parts) when we encountered one such person who was selling copied xbox360 and ps3 games. After asking what the heck the guy was doing selling copied games he was told "its ok, theyre just demos" (they werent, and its illegal to sell demos anyway) my friend decided the best plan of attack was to grab a box of this pirates "stock". The fellow then (obviously) started to protest at which point my friend went to hand the guy his mobile phone and said, "here you go, call the police then,... or should I?". The fellow then just put his head down and started packing up his stall.

[fishy_fiz]

Nope. We got as far as the exit/entrance and it dawned on him that he had box of stuff he didnt want. Handed a few out to kids as they approached the entrance but got bored of it pretty quickly and ended up putting the box behind some bushes at the school the swap meet was held at. Chances are some lucky kid(s) hit the jackpot when they got to school the following week (either that or cleaners found them). Ive not seen the same pirate at the swap meets since, so some good come from it at least.

[fishy_fiz]

Who's being righteous? Im just happy that the scum trying to make money from other peoples work has now vanished. The look on his face amused me no end. Just curious, but how did you manage to fit violence into the equation? My friend even offered the scumbag his phone to call the police. And no, Im not from the U.S, but again how does this fit into the equation? A lowlife is a lowlife, nationality plays no part. You're welcome to play devils advocate all you like, it doesnt stop the look on the guys face when he realised there was nothing he could do amusing me.

[fishy_fiz]

Sure, the "right" thing to do wouldve been to call the police, and had it been me that was aggressively pro-active it's probably what Id have done (although to be honest I'd more likely have spoken to the organisers of the event and have them deal with it (they'd probably let things go until someone spoke up about getting the police involved)). Still though, it was quite entertaining and still makes me chuckle when I think about it.