[Linux-aus] FTA hopes in war on pirates

[John Knight]

I'd be interested to know about the entire effect of
piracy and open source software. An example I'm
thinking of is the GIMP. A great program in its own
right, but every Windows using friend I have dismisses
it because it's not as good as Photoshop. 

Yet not one of them has paid up a cent for their
software and has no qualms with 'just dowloading it
from an ftp somewhere'. As long as these people
refrain from paying their several-hundred-dollar fees
(at a minimum), it will continue to hurt open-source
projects trying to provide a viable alternative. 

I can assure you, if any of them were forced to pay or
use something else, I'm sure they'd all choose the
GIMP over the (I'm guessing) $900 fee.

End of rant. :)
John


--- Jeff Waugh <jdub at perkypants.org> wrote: > Few days
old, but here 'tis:
> 
>   "HAVING made almost no headway in cutting
> Australia's rate of software
>   piracy, industry lobby groups are hoping the
> US-Australia Free Trade
>   Agreement will make it easier to crack down on
> pirates."
> 


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