CompuServe Messages

You can't have it both ways – you complain that software producers are incorrectly estimating lost sales, yet you're arguing that you somehow have a magic 8-ball to discern what real-world-with-CP sales rates would be. I think both sides agree that a LOT of piracy occurs. What upsets me the most is that I've seen inside several very large software companies, including prominent members of the Software Publishing Association, and casual piracy is still ignored at the grass-roots level. Hypocritical, yes. The problem comes down to individuals. There are people who know piracy is wrong, yet continue to do it for any number of reasons: "I'm only using this program once in a while, I'm just test-driving it, it's too expensive I'll buy the next version, etc." Microsoft and Borland can stay alive because of the larger numbers in the PC market, but piracy bites small markets the hardest. It raises the bar for small companies. We need to jump higher, and if we can't, then the viability of that product is impossible.