The story of the apple yard (no spam)

[ik911]

[QUOTE=HiRo11er]So here are my two cents...

I consider there to be two choices. The first choice, and this is what I would do, is to let people take the friggin apples. If you have such a big orchard that your already-existing guards can't control the whole thing, then you've got enough apples. Why not let people eat?
The second choice is, take your apples a step further. If you start producing apple pie, for example, the cost of production will be nothing compared to the increased sales, and you'll make more money. The money lost with a few stolen apples will be nothing compared to your new source of income!

How that relates to software piracy, I have no idea... That's not my area, at all...[/QUOTE]
Hm, as for the second option: if it's that easy and cheap to make apple pies, than the people could steal apples to make their own pies, and the unsold pies will have an even bigger income loss, plus it's harder to store, preserve and sell the much bigger objects. The company gets to deal with a lot more quality issues, because not only the apples have to be good, but also all the other ingredients. Oh, and you need a factory and a lot more workers. All investments... Not a really bad idea though.

[HiRo11er]

Good points, jk...

I love how this thread started with a basic question on morals (at least that's how I interpreted it!), only to quickly turn in to a discussion on entrepeneurism, capitalism, sales strategies and market analysis... I guess this shows how consumer-oriented we've gotten, eh?

[frogus23]

Software piracy is a slander on the name 'piracy'. Pirates would have pillaged the orchard and taken every apple for distillation into 80% proof cider before burning the trees, beheading the landowner, drinking his blood in a toast to Satan and the king's demise, and made off in a fearsome ruckuss at the dead of night.

In many ways I feel that the software industry ought to count themselves lucky that pirates have not invented nano-technology.