this is a pretty wordy thread...I skipped quite a bit of it for lack of time.... First off...that serenity thing.... "I can't control nor likely influence what others will do, so I don't worry about it"...this is a pretty big cop-out IMO....if more people got off their ass and reported people, talked to them, talked to others about ethics and stuff...just perhaps you could influence a few of them...if everyone ignored everything, what the hell kind of mess would we be in ??? Well, you have a pretty good idea already..... Are there any ethics left? Things are so foggy nowadays, and people have been doing iffy illegal things for so long, most people don't even have a clue what ethics even is...let alone honesty, and so forth....its just common everyday the way we do things....on the edge..if no one looks, hey its aok... Just like when we're driving--- speed LIMIT..55mph...but everyone drives 60-70...so it must be ok....but it really isn't. The answers..as according to me: 1. unethical and dishonest...illegal... 2. ethical...if in good faith they believe they can pull out of the financial problems....I think it their business to release the program any way they want. We surely don't need to buy it, and if they do go under, what can you do??? If they know they are going to fold, and release the program secured without no intent to provide a security release...by all means unethical. 3. ethical/unethical..they can price it any way they want...but as one of the first purchasers,I'd be a bit pissed off...but you don't need to buy it next time, do you? Plus...you have the choice to buy right away or wait. You never know do you??? 4. unethical...if you are not a student, you shouldn't have a student copy....plus your friend is a crook too 5. as above 6..again..unethical, unless the license is such that it allows your using it after your student status ceases, or professionally.

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together.
All things connect......Chief Seattle, 1854