Re: Woohooo! Dell + Linux

[Celejar <celejar@gmail.com>]

On Sun, 01 Apr 2007 11:43:09 -0500
Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net> wrote:

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> On 04/01/07 11:26, Celejar wrote:
> > 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
> 
> Justifies?  No.
> 
> Explains?  Yes.  Especially for something as ephemeral as software
> and when created by a Big American Company.

I agree, and I implicitly accepted as much in my next few lines.
 
> > 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. 
> 
> Unless that culture does not have the concept of intellectual property.

I explicitly wrote "insofar as one recognizes a legal or moral basis
for intellectual property".

Celejar