Please bear with me in this, my first column for ANALOG Computing magazine, while I use the time and space for a little ranting and raving. For those of you who don't know me, I run a software research and development firm called Star Systems Software, Inc. in Orlando, Florida. I wrote a (at one time) best selling game called Preppie! for Adventure International, and a couple other games for Atari computers.
Our current slant is towards personal productivity products, such as HomePak, a trademark of Batteries Included, which we recently completed for that company. I've been involved in all facets of the home computer software industry almost from its very inception, from programming to advertising to publishing to... you name it; I've done it. Our firm currently makes products for a wide gamut of machines, including those of Apple, Commodore, Tandy, and IBM, but the Atari is my first love.
The following might not seem relevant to computer software, but please patronize me for a moment while I get around to making my point.
One of my favorite things is going to the movies. I decided to take in 2010 the other evening, anxious to see the sequel to one of my favorite movies of all time, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The theatre we would be attending had recently been remodeled, and the evening promised to be an enjoyable one.
Diana and I had just sat down when we were asked (politely) by a young couple with two children if we could move in from the aisle. Their children could see the movie better from there and would be less likely to fidget. "Fine," I said, and we moved over.
The next two hours proved to be eventful ones.
One of the little monsters spilled my Coke. The parents were constantly trying to explain the story to the monsters, though it was way over their heads (the parents', too) and based on the premises laid down in a movie made many years before they were even born.
The parents put their feet all over the backs of the chairs in front of them. Obviously imitating their parents, the monsters did likewise. I asked the parents if they did that at home, and their (not-so-polite, this time) response was, "Sure, don't you?"
All four of them were constantly talking (obviously never having heard of the word whisper) about which monster's turn it was to go to the rest room, and how much better a movie Star Wars had been. Both monsters spilled their popcorn (buttered) all over the floor of the nicely renovated theatre.
To beat the traffic, they left five minutes before the movie was over. If you've seen the movie, you know that the last few minutes is where they explain not only what's happening, but the reason for both 2001 and 2010. What they possibly could have gained from the movie, except for some dazzling special effects ("not nearly as good as Star Wars' were") is beyond me.
As I got up to leave, I looked around the theatre. It was a shambles... There were footprints all over the chairs. Empty popcorn boxes and soft drink cups (along with their contents, in many cases) were strewn over the floor. People all around me had talked incessantly throughout the entire movie.
My VCR and the local rent-a-movie store are looking more and more inviting all the time.
The point of all this? People tend not to have much respect when damaging someone else's property, or otherwise infringing on someone else's rights, if the effect of their disrespect is not immediately obvious to them. If I were to invite any of my fellow theatre patrons into my home, I'd make sure that they'd go to great lengths to keep their feet off of my furniture and food/beverages in their respective containers.
They would not interrupt conversations and would, generally, be as polite as they've been taught to be while someone's guest. Put those people in a movie theatre, and all manners go to hell in a handbasket.
Also, people tend to do as they've seen others do... "monkey see, monkey do." If everyone else is having food fights with their popcorn, why shouldn't you? If you want to hold a loud conversation about what Ethel wore to your dinner last night - and want to do it in the middle of an engrossing movie - surely your right to talk outweighs someone else's right to enjoy an artistic experience they've paid $4.50 or so for, right?
These are the same people we expect to have respect for the rights of programmers and their work. If everyone around you is pirating (the last time I'll use that word: it really should be called stealing) software, why shouldn't you? The way that it hurts programmers like myself is not immediately obvious, so there is very little guilt inherent in stealing software.
"The programmer will never miss the sales from this one program I've stolen. He's rich enough, anyway."
I've got news for you. I make enough from programming to make a living at it, but I'm far from rich. I won't lose my mortgage over one stolen program, but surely you're not naive enough to believe that you're the only person in the whole world who thinks the way you do. If I make $2.00 from the sale of a single program, and just a thousand people think as you do, then I've lost $2,000.
I say "just a thousand" for argument's sake - I'd estimate that, for a best selling program, the number would be more inclined to reach into the tens (or even hundreds) of thousands. If someone stole $20,000 from you, could you in good conscience tell me that you wouldn't care one way or the other?
"The program's too expensive. They're trying to rip me off."
Maybe. A Porsche 944 is too expensive for me, but I'd like to have one. Maybe I should complain to my local Porsche dealer that the price is too high, and rip one off from his, lot.
"I don't know if the company is going to be around a year from now."
Nice try. A couple of years ago (to use the automobile analogy again) there was serious concern as to whether Chrysler was going to be around much longer. So, obviously, the thing to do was to go out and heist a few Dodge trucks, right?
"All my friends do it."
Again, nice try. Like being a lemming, huh? San Quentin is just plumb full of criminals and friends of same, who all have similar "hobbies."
C'mon, people. Stealing is stealing, and programmers like me aren't the only people you're hurting. I almost left the industry last year because of piracy, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
To help combat the problem, we just completed a package called HomePak that is: (1) low in price and (2) not copy protected. If the program doesn't sell, and if I can attribute those lost sales to theft, then I doubt that I'll do another program for commercial sale.
If you want us to continue writing programs, then you've got to support us by buying the software you want or need, and by not condoning software theft among your friends.
I frequently stop by local software merchants to watch from the sidelines, to see what people are buying and what kind of difficulties they have getting software to run. It helps me to determine what's important to novice users and to put features users want in my programs.
One day, a kid (about 15, I'd guess) sidled up next to me with a box full of disks. We got to talking about the latest games, and he asked me if I'd seen this "great new game" called Sea Dragon, which he'd just gotten a copy of (and which I'd written).
"No," I said enthusiastically, "what does it look like?" He whipped out a disk (not an original, of course) and booted up the program. I watched passively for a few minutes, then reached into my wallet, pulled out $3.00 and put it on the table in front of him.
Thinking I wanted to buy a copy from him, he said, "Hey, no problem. Just give me a disk, and I'll copy it for you."
"No, I don't want to buy it. You see, I wrote the program. I lost about $3.00 because you stole it. I just wanted to save you the trouble for the next program of mine you steal, and let you take the $3.00 ahead of time."
He laughed for a bit, then realized I was serious. He turned white as a sheet, silently packed up his box of disks and left. I've been told that he refuses to take stolen programs now, but, one way or another, I made an impression on him by graphically showing him the harm he'd done to me.
I find it very hard to believe that people would knowingly hurt me (and my family - I have others to support besides myself) by stealing my programs, if they really knew what they were doing.
I hope I've made an impression on at least one of you out there. All I want is to be paid for my efforts. It's a shame that, in an industry as fast-growing and potentially important as home computer software, I have to plead for something which would be considered as a matter of course anywhere else. Sigh.
Or should I say "a call to letters?" This column doesn't have any preplanned format. It will be part gossip, news, programming tips (and, as in this issue, soapbox tirades). If there's something particular you'd like, please write to this column c/o ANALOG Computing, P.O. Box 23, Worcester, MA 01603.
I'm open to most any subject, from Action! to "how do I get a program published?" - so fire away. I can't individually answer all letters, but will take the more interesting or representative ones for inclusion here.