Re: Woohooo! Dell + Linux
On Sun, 1 Apr 2007 11:07:37 +0300
Andrei Popescu <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> wrote:
> Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Sat, 31 Mar 2007 03:44:18 +0300
> > Andrei Popescu <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> 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
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.
> I assume, big companies with offices/factories in Romania are paying for
> their licenses, but considering the numbers and spread ... who would be
> able to count? Or does MS have some special agreements with such
> companies?
>
> Regards,
> Andrei
> --
> If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
> (Albert Einstein)
Celejar
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