Attached Link: http://www.wire.org.uk/richer_sounds.html

Hi, The offer from the magazine wasn't valid for very long anyway, I tried to use it and though the web page showed the box, it didn't show you that you could no longer order it, (it just didn't have a "buy now" button) when I phoned up to ask about this they told me that they didn't have any in stock, weren't planning on getting anymore and that I couldn't upgrade from the magazine because it was a limited offer designed to clear thier stocks, etc. and that *really* pissed me off I can tell you, especially after they'd harvested my details to qualify for the offer. Though I'm a little confused by Micheleh's comment: "You copy or warez or steal an older version, you don't" I thought that was the point, it's warez, you don't have to pay for it. In fact, it's warez, and a pirate would be seriously offended, (or more likely laugh, and refuse to give it to you :) if you offered to pay for it. Indeed, during my days as an Amiga pirate, cash was never an issue, many's the time I gave the stuff away on floppies that I'd bought, so it was costing me money. I also don't think it comes down to being "good" either, software piracy is a fact of life, (just like taking home stationary from work, taking sick days when you're not sick, etc.) but it's also a core part of computer culture, of the entire scene itself. I've got mates in software houses, and let me tell you, they're the biggest pirates of the lot. They've had access to CD writers long before they were available commercially to the likes of us. From a mate who worked for a part of Electronic Arts, I got playstation games that were never released commerially, (as well as ones that were) and by that I mean complete games, not half finished junk. One of my favourite games is called Einhander, it's a flawless Japanese R-Type clone, incredible, but it was surplus to requirements... I remember having a competition with a reviewer in a games magazine in the UK long ago, (I had a commodore 64 at the time) he started posting hi-scores from a game that didn't exist in the UK, called "night mission pinball" I had a copy, so I wrote in with my score, nothing was said, and my scores were published. This was in a time before the internet was available, (and before the word "warez" as coined.) Today data moves in much the same way, the names have changed, I haven't heard of "Quartex" (a semi-legenday cracking crew in my day) in years, but the Bulletin Board scene is alive as it ever was, and just as exclusive. Personally as somebody who has lived in close proximity to computers for the past twenty years, (probably logging at least 2 hours a day on average, including holidays and weekends) I tend to view this as a good thing. The torch is passed on from one generation to the next, and the wheel keeps turning. Compared to a UK bank I was once told about that was losing 50,000 UK pounds a week in toilet roll, (no joke, it was being paid for and delivered, but never found! I got that from an old man who turned out to be a bank examiner, on the day he retired, he just walked in the shop and bought the most expensive bottle of scotch we had... But I digress :) Compared to that kind of fraud, "scene" software piracy is small beer. It's also part of the business, certianly the games business, where it's both a mark of how good your product is, and something that is worked into the "bottom line" when working out whether a game is feasable or not. In an amusing anecdote, one software house in the UK, (who shall remain nameless) were forced to postpone a launch when the pirate back end compiler setup they were using, bared it's teeth and deleted thier code base one Sunday morning. They were able to get a fairly complete copy (of thier own game) from a competitor, as one of thier developers had shared it with his mates... :) What am I trying to say with all this, simply that piracy is part of the culture, both in business and personal life. But to a business an "amnesty" makes a lot of sense, because every cent they recieve from a pirate is profit. It's money they never expected to make and never budgeted for. It's also a way of selling more upgrades, since you can't upgrade without a legitimate serial number, which is what you're getting here. It's also a way of clearing out excess inventory when you have a new product pending, otherwise the old boxes have to be stored for a while and then (hopefully) shipped to somebody who'll distribute it to the bargain bin at a knock down price. Otherwise you'll have to pay to dispose of it. There are (possibly apocrophal) stories about Atari using a landfill in New Mexico to get rid of 6 million E.T. games after they over produced the cartidge and the game bombed! The bottom line here, is that this is a business, and you have only once choice, whether or not to buy. CL owe you nothing, it says so in the license. Which is why there are different licences for governments, (who have more teeth) than for the likes of you or me. You can bitch and wail all you want, but the reality is you knowingly paid the price for a product you wanted, at a time of your chosing. you haven't lost $70 because $129 wasn't going to buy you poser4 at the time you bought it anyway. In fact just about the only people who get stung by this are shopkeepers, since they rarely get rebates, and if it's available on the web at a lower price then they usually lose a sale. There is a chain of Hi-Fi shops in the UK called "Richer sounds" (link attached) They have a bad reputation, but only because the other shops can't sell at the price they do. They buy end of line stock and knock it out cheap, (the landfill principal all over again) which annoys almost every other retailer, who bought it at the manufacturers price, and have to sell to the public at full price to make thier margin. So they tell people that if you go to Richer sounds you'll get factory returns, etc. FUD (Fear Uncertianty & Doubt, a favoured tatctic of Microsoft) applied to the high street. My amp is a Pioneer A400, I bought it on London Bridge, (the only place it was available) for 140 pounds, anywhere else in the UK and it would have cost me 270. By that reckoning anyone who didn't get on a bus and make the trip to London was losing 130 pounds, or by the logic appiled so far, was "owed" 130 quid by Pioneer... My amp came brand new, and boxed with an unbroken seal, (and having faked a few of those I know what to look for :) I got lucky, but I was willing to wait, if you weren't then you paid 270 and were just as happy. At the end of the day, this is clearing the decks for poser 5, it's a straight business decision, over which you have no input. Like it or not CL is a business, it exists to sell product, (and if doesn't it doesn't deserve to survive, think of it from an investors point of view) Like everyone but the pirates, (who'll *never* buy a copy) I will be buying one, because I personally think it's worth the money. In demanding the CL make some token show of contrition for this "outrage" you're simply costing them money, which is money they can't be spent expanding the user base, etc. If you boycott and bicker, you lose, we all lose. I'm probably going to take a lot of flack for this, it's an unpopular opinion, voiced when feeling is high, but how many of you have kept videos recorded from TV for more than 14 days. How many of you can honestly say that you've paid for every bit of shareware you've ever used/kept, or adhered to the letter of the law regarding software licences, (especially those of Microsoft, who's $30Bn in cash is a wonderfull salve to the conscience) "flame on" ladies and gents :) later jb