Trevor's Rant- by Trevor Smith

Before you read any further, here's a warning. This rant is inflammatory. I'm going to condemn some people and if you're one of them, you might get offended. If you've got a guilty conscience read no further and we'll be able to stay friends. If you've nothing to hide, then read on...


I've known some pretty shifty characters in my time. These aren't the kind that would pick your pocket any more than they would pick a fight with you. They're strictly non-confrontational. But they're shifty nonetheless. Why? Because they've got Autocad and PageMaker sitting on their hard drives even though they never use them. Worse, they've got Lotus SmartSuite and four or five DOS games that they do use but they certainly didn't pay for. They're the kind of people that would pirate an application any day instead of buying it. They're the kind of people that would pirate food guide software from the Heart and Stroke Foundation. They just don't care who they rip off. They're a lowly den of reptilian creatures--and I was their lizard king.

Okay, maybe not the king, but I was certainly some sort of petty nobility. Yes, I confess, I have pirated software. I have actually done a little copy protection breaking; I've copied plenty of installation disks from friends; I've used shareware past the evaluation period. But hey, everyone does it. I mean, it's alright, isn't it?

No, it is not!

They say reformed smokers are always much less tolerant of smoking than people who have never taken a puff. Well just like Born Again Christians have many times the zeal of other denominations, I'm here to tell you, it is not alright! And it is especially not all right in the OS/2 world. I have seen the light brother and I'm telling you, sin no more lest we all be destroyed!

No, I'm not just preaching because my conscience has gotten the better of me and I've registered my shareware apps. In fact, I haven't registered them all yet. I will though, and let me tell you why. Because I believe in OS/2 but I realize that if it is ever going to get past the point where the whole industry inhales every time a company goes out of business, then it has to expand. How will it expand? By having OS/2 ISVs, large and small, become successful, introduce new and improved products and attract more companies to the market. How will this happen? By you sending them your money.

The next time you think you're getting such a great deal because you're using the software that some dumb schmoe busted his or her back writing and you didn't have to pay a cent for, use your brain and realize that they are people too. I don't care if they're Lotus, CodeSmith (makers of Xit) or SouthSide Software (PMMail), they are not faceless entities. The people at those companies, whether there are 2 or 20,000 depend on people paying a fair price for the software they make. If people don't pay, those people lose their jobs. Period.

I know what you're thinking. "They're stuff is priced too high. It's not fair." Well if you don't like it move to Moscow comrade, it's called capitalism and some of us think it works quite nicely. Here's the general theory: company X spends a lot of time developing application Y. They figure their time is worth $Z. If you happen to think $Z is too high, then don't buy it! But don't use it either. See how well everything meshes? No one forces you to pay a price you consider too dear and you shouldn't force them to give you their software for free (by stealing it!).

It seems that this is more relevant to the OS/2 world than any other computer platform. At least one OS/2 ISV has told me that OS/2 software is pirated at a greater rate than DOS or Windows stuff and that piracy is the one thing that is hurting this particular company the most. How do you think that makes ISVs feel? Do you think they support OS/2 so you can steal their stuff and they can waste their development time without getting remunerated for it? Are you listening to this? If people steal their software they won't make it any more. Get it?!? You're not just hurting them, you're hurting yourself. Worse, you're hurting me.

Yeah I know we all want stuff for free and I'm not saying that you're all going to burn in hell just for using a few shareware apps past their evaluation period. But come on. I've talked to a few shareware authors and I've been told what some of their registration rates are. No-one is stupid enough to believe that all the rest of the millions of people out there using OS/2 just aren't using some of these apps. Some of them are probably on almost 25% or 30% of the Warp systems out there. If you can name me one shareware author who has had a million registrations (which is less than 25% of 5 million Warp licenses), I'll stop ranting and apologize. I'll even eat my hat.

Just imagine how great that would be; that author would have made literally millions of dollars and presumably would immediately start other projects (realizing how great being rich is compared to being poor) and probably hire other OS/2 programmers. Net result: increased demand for OS/2 skilled programmers, increased and more mature OS/2 applications, increased interest from other ISVs and shareware authors, increased OS/2 sales.

Maybe you think that registering your shareware is too hard. You just can't find an envelope to send your payment in or you don't have a chequing account and don't feel like walking to the post office for a money order. No problem! Many BBS's have on-line registration for many popular shareware products. One that pops to mind is Peter Norloff's OS/2 Shareware BBS but I'm by no means showing favouritism to that one as I'm sure there are many others. Check your favourite local one. If that's not good enough for you, BMT Micro has toll free phone lines for users in the States and Canada. That's right, you can register over 70 quality OS/2 shareware apps by telephone with your credit card (you can also fax BMT your information to register your favourite apps).

And if you're using an application from Athena, DeScribe, Stardock, SPG, Hilgraeve, Lotus, Pinnacle, DevTech or anyone else that you didn't pay for, I don't even want to talk to you. You know what to do.

So don't just sit there looking at the screen. Get out your cheque book and register those apps. I want a future for OS/2.


Trevor Smith is the editor of OS/2 e-Zine!. When he's not saving souls, he's fervently registering his shareware for all he's worth.

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