bitplayer opened this issue on Jan 08, 2003 ยท 67 posts
creativechaos posted Wed, 08 January 2003 at 7:32 PM
Honestly, I am a student and have purchased numerous student packages of software. None of them state in the EULA that you must stop using them after you graduate, nor do they limit your use of said product. Most of them are upgradable in the future and all of them come with full company support. The only difference between the full version and my academic versions on 95% of what I've purchaced is pricing. Most of the companies put out student and academic versions of software at a discounted price for 2 reasons. #1 - they know us students are poor. Piss broke honestly, but they also know we use their software on a daily basis in classes and can accomplish a lot more if we have the software on our machines. So they give us a break. Some small some large..but a break none the less #2 - Once we're in the field of choice (for me Graphic Design) we may be able to pick what software the place we work for buys. IF they give us deals on the software and we use it enough we get used to it. If we're suggesting software to companies we suggest what we're comfortable with and that company buys multi-user licences profiting said software company a great deal. Makes perfect business sense doesn't it? (thought so) So am I going to continue using my student software till I have a job and can afford to upgrade...HELL YES I am. Is it unethical? Hell no, I paid for it to begin with and all good things must be upgraded eventually. And I plan to do it whenever I get a good job to pay good money for good programs. As per, not a student and getting student discounts - Now that all depends. My school was/is in the middle of a huge deal with a major design software company and 2 of my friends graduated in December (but won't ahve the actual ceremony until May) if the deal goes through before May...They already have deals worked out to be able to pick up the software at the discounted price. And I believe that's ethical because they ended up being in the right place at the wrong time and the deal was already in the works while they were still active in classes. As for myself, I graduate in May so if the deal comes through before then, I'm lucky. LOL But I don't think it's right for Joe Blow who's been out of college for 20+ years to get a student discount when he can't even remember what a classroom looked like. Just my 2 cents though
Remember...getting lost is the senic route to the eventual destination. (And a lot prettier than the straight road)