Still he charges for Minecraft instead of just making it free and tell people to donate if they like it. Also, he's not saying "just pirate it", but rather "pay me later". It's actually a terrible example of a dev that is not in it for the money, especially considering the amount he has already made and how very, very uninterested he is in having money.
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Want to legitimize my pirated apps, best way to do it?
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Still he charges for Minecraft instead of just making it free and tell people to donate if they like it. Also, he's not saying "just pirate it", but rather "pay me later". It's actually a terrible example of a dev that is not in it for the money, especially considering the amount he has already made and how very, very uninterested he is in having money.
The whole "piracy isn't stealing it's just copying" idea people have is totally laughable. Simple example: A dev sells an app for $1. 1000 people buy it. Dev gets to pay his bills and feed his family. If, instead, 1 person buys it and 999 "merely copy" it, you've just taken the food from his table and the roof from over his head. It might not be stealing in the same way as taking that dinner off the table yourself, but the end result is identical.
Actually, it's better to think of it like this instead of stealing: It's like getting a workman to do some work for you and then not paying for it. The guy put the hard work in, you're getting the benefits, but you think it's OK to shut the door in his face instead of paying his bill.
That said, I think most devs just accept it as part of life - some people will pay, others will steal. Even the ones 'stealing' are a grey area - some are just pirating it to see what it's like, and wouldn't have bought it anyway. Others pirate because they have no money and intend to buy it later (though if you can't afford it, you probably don't need it - and you'd be better off selling that iPhone to raise some cash
).
I've even seen cases where people pirate expensive high-end create apps, get very skilful with them, get recognition for their work with it.. then start up a company and buy a bunch of licenses. That kind of piracy is actually good for devs. And I've heard of devs whose apps were pirated - and then found their sales went up. Tons of people pirate the app, think it's great and show it to their friends - and a lot of those friends buy it. It's free advertising, looking at it that way. Of course other times the app gets pirated, sales collapse, and the company has to buy a ton of servers to support the thousands of pirate users.
Actually, it's better to think of it like this instead of stealing: It's like getting a workman to do some work for you and then not paying for it. The guy put the hard work in, you're getting the benefits, but you think it's OK to shut the door in his face instead of paying his bill.
That said, I think most devs just accept it as part of life - some people will pay, others will steal. Even the ones 'stealing' are a grey area - some are just pirating it to see what it's like, and wouldn't have bought it anyway. Others pirate because they have no money and intend to buy it later (though if you can't afford it, you probably don't need it - and you'd be better off selling that iPhone to raise some cash
). I've even seen cases where people pirate expensive high-end create apps, get very skilful with them, get recognition for their work with it.. then start up a company and buy a bunch of licenses. That kind of piracy is actually good for devs. And I've heard of devs whose apps were pirated - and then found their sales went up. Tons of people pirate the app, think it's great and show it to their friends - and a lot of those friends buy it. It's free advertising, looking at it that way. Of course other times the app gets pirated, sales collapse, and the company has to buy a ton of servers to support the thousands of pirate users.
Sync you iPhone to your pc. Then delete the apps from your phone and then buy them. Resync to retain saves. Or go to update the app and if there is an update available you get the option to purchase when applying the update.
The real thieves are app developers who charge for crappy apps with no trial versions. How hard is it to make a demo?
I've downloaded many apps that I didn't pay for simply because I didn't want to buy something without knowing what it was. In each case of a bad app, I've deleted them. In the case of a decent to good app, I've bought all of them. And you're right, it's way less of a pain to install and sync my legit apps across all my devices as well as update. I'll even go back and pay for Cydia tweaks that I didn't buy. If the devs don't make enough money, they will do something else. As for the crappy apps, they probably should do something else.
And to all the people with the holier than thou acts, ****. Reminds me of those nutcase Christians that bring up every bad thing you've ever done to put you down rather than accept your desire for rebirth. That never works either. Ugh!
The real thieves are app developers who charge for crappy apps with no trial versions. How hard is it to make a demo?
I've downloaded many apps that I didn't pay for simply because I didn't want to buy something without knowing what it was. In each case of a bad app, I've deleted them. In the case of a decent to good app, I've bought all of them. And you're right, it's way less of a pain to install and sync my legit apps across all my devices as well as update. I'll even go back and pay for Cydia tweaks that I didn't buy. If the devs don't make enough money, they will do something else. As for the crappy apps, they probably should do something else.
And to all the people with the holier than thou acts, ****. Reminds me of those nutcase Christians that bring up every bad thing you've ever done to put you down rather than accept your desire for rebirth. That never works either. Ugh!
The real thieves are app developers who charge for crappy apps with no trial versions. How hard is it to make a demo?
Harder than you might think! Apple have actually banned demo versions from the store. Seriously - do a search for 'demo' on the store, see how many demo versions you find! What they do allow is "lite" (feature limited) versions (not all apps can be feature limited without ruining them) and 'free' versions (pretty much the same thing). In some cases (like a game where you just limit the number of levels) it can be done, in others it's tricky to do and takes a lot of time and effort. And even then you might find lots of people use the free version and never upgrade, making it unwise to do the free one in the first place!
If everyone was like you, piracy should be legal. Unfortunately lots of people just have the attitude "why pay when you can get it for free?" and couldn't care less if the developer starves while they're praising his work. And yes, the devs making the worst apps should be doing something else. Unfortunately that often means "hiring a dodgy marketing firm to game the store" rather than "learning to be a waiter"
Poor argument.
Pirated apps are available because someone did legitimately buy it, before sharing it out among people who will hopefully pay for it later.
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Except, it is just copying. If I steal that dev's work, he's never able to distribute and profit from it again. If I take a cheeky copy for myself, he's down $1 but it's pittance in relation to what he's earned or will earn.
That is an absurd argument.
By the same (convoluted) logic I could say that firing someone is the same as stealing from them. The end result is identical.
Michael
So what you are saying is he is "a terrible example of a dev that is not in it for the money" because he is "very uninterested in having money."?
I know he isn't saying "just pirate it" because I specifically wrote that he told the guy to buy it when he has the money.
You killed your own argument inside of your argument, makes me wonder if you actually read my entire post.
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I meant to write "spending", not "having". Sorry. i'll try again
I'm saying he's a bad example of a dev that is not in it for the money since he charges for Minecraft instead of letting those who want donate what they feel it's worth. Considering the amount of money he has made, it can no longer be about "being able to survive". And since he is just hoarding all of that money, not really spending a single dime but still living poor, it's pretty much all about the actual money, not what he can do with it. Plus, he has said that he's going to release it as open source - when the sales drop.
So yeah, I reckon he's a pretty bad example of a dev that's not in it for the money.
I meant to write "spending", not "having". Sorry. i'll try again
I'm saying he's a bad example of a dev that is not in it for the money since he charges for Minecraft instead of letting those who want donate what they feel it's worth. Considering the amount of money he has made, it can no longer be about "being able to survive". And since he is just hoarding all of that money, not really spending a single dime but still living poor, it's pretty much all about the actual money, not what he can do with it. Plus, he has said that he's going to release it as open source - when the sales drop.
So yeah, I reckon he's a pretty bad example of a dev that's not in it for the money.
That's a bit weird that you seem to know this guy's life...
He's not somehow a bad example because he doesn't appear to need the money (how would you know this anyway?). It's just a great example of a developer that understands how the internet operates and has the right attitude towards it. A lot of people would empathise with this guy and be happy to pay the money given his chilled approach.
No, it's shared out to a few people who will hopefully pay for it later, and a lot of people who just want it for free. This is a pity, because the people who will pay for it later lose out when big companies / governments / whatever crack down on it because of the freeloaders.
So it's just copying, even though the developer is down $1, but it's OK because other people will still buy it? What happens if lots of people think the same way? In the end the developer doesn't earn much at all, and I know people who've lost their jobs because of that. Most developers don't earn a lot - people assume we earn millions because of a very few people who got lucky or had some amazing idea and got on the news - that's the rare exception, not the norm. We work hard for a living.
No, by your logic you'd fire them but still expect them to work for you for no pay and no benefits. You want to take the work, but not pay the money.
Having just re-read what you wrote, and then what I wrote... you're absolutely right
Think I was mixing up posts there - it's getting late, it's been a long day, and I've been hunting for some missing files from my main work box and discovered that my backup disk died today, probably not the best frame of mind to be responding to stuff. Sorry!Having just re-read what you wrote, and then what I wrote... you're absolutely right
Apology accepted! Bravo for stepping back, taking a second look, and apologizing. I respect that.
Michael
Just open the app store and buy the apps while the pirated versions are still installed. It should overwrite them with legit copies and it should let you keep any saved data you may have.
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I don't think it's that weird reading interviews and remembering what's been said. But hey, to each his own...
A guy making literally millions that isn't lowering the price or offering it for free is a poor example of someone who's not in it for the money. The question is why you, who think it's weird to know anything about his financial situation, are talking about it?
Have I said I don't empathize with him, think he has the wrong attitude towards it or don't want him to make money? The answer is no, I haven't. In fact I'm impressed by him. But what I have said is that he's a bad example of a dev that's not in it for the money. See the difference there?
I didn't expect that he'd be interviewed. Fair enough.
How was I talking about his financial situation? I just said that what you said doesn't make him the so called "bad example developer".
Saying "period" at the end of a sentence doesn't make it true.
I'm not saying pirating is right, but it's not stealing because you haven't removed anything.
That's not really the likely outcome though. What will really happen is 800 will buy the app rather than 1000 - and then 5000 will copy it. People will try to argue that that's a theft of $5000, but the loss is actually only $200 - and the other 4800 people would never have bought it anyway. Except that then some of those 5000 will like it so much they decide to buy it - or will commend it to others who do.
The reality is that it's really hard to tell for sure how much money developers lose thought piracy (and there is the slim - very slim - chance that the piracy actually increases their profits) but it's certainly nowhere near the accumulative value of all of the illegal downloads.
Se7en
Turn yourself in to your local Apple athorities, and hope they will have mercy on your soul.
Turn yourself in to your local Apple athorities, and hope they will have mercy on your soul.
I agree with most of that. Take a read through any of the music / film industry anti-piracy reports and you'll see plenty of "1m pirated copies downloaded, $10 per copy, therefore $10m lost" BS. In reality maybe 10% of those million downloaders went on to buy the film. Maybe the other 90% wouldn't have watched it if they had to pay, and maybe they went around telling their friends how great it was and their friends all bought a copy. There's very little research on that.
What I can say though (not from evidence, but from seeing the effect piracy can have on companies over quite a few years) is this: It just comes down to how easy it is. If piracy is too easy lots of people choose to pirate, sales fall, and companies go bust or fire staff. If piracy is hard, lots of people simply won't bother. I mean would you work for 1 hour to get an app installed if it only cost $1 on the app store? Few would.
How can "take the work but not pay" compare to "not use the app and not pay"? After all, it's off-the-shelf-software we are talking about here.
This reminded me of a video I watched, it was actually pretty funny and related to piracy, but not necessarily related to what you are saying.
If you have 5 minutes 18 seconds, check it out, I think you'll laugh.
It's called the $8 billion iPod.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/rob_reid_the_8_billion_ipod.html
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I certainly did laugh
And that's exactly the kind of BS piracy figures I was referring to. The annoying thing though is that it causes damage both ways - some people take the figures as real and kick off huge (usually badly misguided, often involving DRM or censorship, hello SOPA) crusades. This ends up hurting the people it's supposed to be protecting. Other people see it as the BS it is, and end up in a crusade against the media organisations which also ends up hurting the artists.
And on that DRM issue: I think it's acceptable *only* on stuff you expect to use short term. Newspapers/magazines, ok.. apps, just about ok, books/music/films? I expect to be able to access them in 20 years, just like I can with my old CDs and books. With DRM that's in no way guaranteed (in fact it's unlikely). I never buy music/books/films with DRM.
So op when you want some fruit do you just waltz into the market and shoplift some bananas and oranges, then pay for them later IF you thought they were tasty? How about someone breaks into your home and steals some of your things then later sends you some money IF they feel like it but only for the stuff they like.
You owe the developer money for every app you pirated, not only the apps you like.
You owe the developer money for every app you pirated, not only the apps you like.
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