18 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3
newyorkeric
Diglot
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| Message 17 of 18 23 May 2010 at 3:24am | IP Logged |
Let's not turn this into a thread about the ethics of using pirated materials. Such threads inevitably become heated and end up being closed.
Eric
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Tetraglot
Senior Member
Switzerland
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| Message 18 of 18 23 May 2010 at 6:38am | IP Logged |
Delodephius wrote:
Splog wrote:
Delodephius wrote:
| I think I'll never understand western need to buy legitimately. I guess it's a cultural thing. |
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Your comment reminds me of a documentary I once saw about a small software company in Russia. They said they never bought things legitimately, they bought illegal versions of MS Windows and various software applications from a local market for a fraction of the legitimate price. This meant they could start up their own company very cheaply. They seemed mighty proud of this.
Some months later the documentary showed the managers of this software company in an angry meeting. It turns out that illegal copies of their own products were now for sale at the local market, and nobody was willing to buy a legitimate version from them. Naturally, the company soon stopped existing.
And in this story is the reason why I and many others prefer to buy things legally. |
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The thing is if I paid for every software I have on my computer it would take me several decades to earn the money... here in my country. I got the whole Rosetta Stone Chinese course by downloading it from the internet for just the cost of my internet connection, which is ~15$ a month. If I had to pay for the course by purchasing it from a legitimate vendor, and there is no one selling Rosetta Stone where I live and buying anything from abroad costs even more, for +500$ I would have to find a better job and pay 3 whole month salaries. I never considered honesty a virtue, just a manner, not when I am unable to buy things people in the developed countries have at greatly lower prices. If something is just expensive for you know that is almost unobtainable for people like, and so we use other methods.
Living in such a world people developed a different view on things. So in the end it turns out to be a cultural thing. |
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A lot depends on what you need. I've been using Linux and open source software for almost everything for about a decade.
That isn't suitable for absolutely every niche, and there are expensive programs and certain features that don't have open source equivalents, but it works for me, and for millions of other people.
There are expensive ways to waste money (I don't think it would be too controversial on this forum to put paying full price for Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur in this category), no matter where you live.
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