What does the MSDNAA license say about using the software after graduation? I've got MSDNAA copies of XP installed in a VMWare virtual machine on my Mac, and Vista installed on my laptop (along with Ubuntu, which I use more often).
What does the MSDNAA license say about using the software after graduation? I've got MSDNAA copies of XP installed in a VMWare virtual machine on my Mac, and Vista installed on my laptop (along with Ubuntu, which I use more often).
You can use them for life. You just can't get anymore. I checked that out myself the last time I ordered something.
When you are no longer a registered student in a department that is a member of the MSDN Academic Alliance, you may no longer receive updates for your personal use computer. However, you may continue to use previously installed software on your computer, provided you continue to follow program guidelines.
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Joined: Sun 08-20-2006 5:50PM Posts: 711 Location: the darkest pits of hell
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Pirating music doesn't phase me. If you enjoy someone's music enough, you will end up buying CDs and going to concerts and buying overpriced T-shirts with everyone else. In fact the only reason you may have gotten into certain bands is having a friend copy a CD for you.
I have a friend, er, that downloads all kinds of random movies and software. How many of those would he actually buy if not given the opportunity to download them? I say very few, meaning that pirating does not cause much damage to companies.
But then again, it's your definition of right/wrong that matters. These companies have millions of times more money than I do - I'm sure they'll be fine.
_________________ "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is."
Pirating music does a lot of harm to bands that are huge. These bands are usually terrible. Pirating music does more good to bands that aren't so big. Whereas these smaller bands may have never been heard of by most people, pirating music (along with help from pandora and last.fm) allows a chain of discovery for similar bands. For example, one of my favorite bands is Mouth of the Architect. Of all the obscure bands that I like, they may be THE most obscure. Here's how I found them: I was a huge Tool fan back in my high school days. Through reading about Tool on various websites and talking with people, the name "Isis" kept coming up. Eventually I decided to check out this band called "Isis" that many Tool fans seemed to like. They ended up being my favorite band for a while. Through them, I kept reading about this "Mouth of the Architect" band. Thus, downloaded their albums and found them to be amazing. The bottom line? First, I MIGHT have heard of Isis without downloading them, but I definitely never would have heard of Mouth of the Architect. Second, I now own an Isis shirt, 3 Isis CDs, a MotA shirt, and a MotA CD. Still working on the other two MotA albums. But I bought albums that I otherwise wouldn't have.
And this isn't just the view of pirates. Many small time bands (and even some big bands) encourage piracy and are fine with their albums being downloaded, because it gets them more publicity and the people who download the music are now potential customers for their merch whereas before they were just completely oblivious to the band.
Then of course there's the issue of downloading a CD because of the moral dilemma of where that money is going. Unless it's an incredibly friendly label, and most aren't, the money is going straight to the label and the band won't see any of it. Of course, if it's a small label I can justify buying a CD because the execs for that label aren't going to be anywhere near the fatcat-level of, say, RCA's execs. But with bigger labels, I'll go see the bands shows and I'll buy their shirts, because that's where most bands' incomes come from.
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The word "bi-partisan" usually means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out.
Then of course there's the issue of downloading a CD because of the moral dilemma of where that money is going. Unless it's an incredibly friendly label, and most aren't, the money is going straight to the label and the band won't see any of it. Of course, if it's a small label I can justify buying a CD because the execs for that label aren't going to be anywhere near the fatcat-level of, say, RCA's execs. But with bigger labels, I'll go see the bands shows and I'll buy their shirts, because that's where most bands' incomes come from.
This is a huge factor for me too. If it's an RIAA-member label, chances are, I will not buy the CD just because I know the band is lucky if they see a dime of my money. And I'd rather not finance multi-million dollar lawsuits against 90 year old ladies who have never touched a computer in their life.
RIAA Radar is an excellent website for checking to see if a certain album was released on an RIAA label.
I like to justify my piracy by at least attempting to use legal alternatives whenever possible. MSDNAA and Ruckus are both great examples, and I also watch a lot of television shows on Hulu (http://www.hulu.com check it out) or other network sites. Yea it's not great the because the bandwidth just isn't there sometimes, but it usually isn't that bad. Granted, I'll might very well download that same episode later, but at least I watched it once with commercials from the content provider. After that, it's no different (in my mind) than having a DVR and skipping through commercials. As far as movies go, I like going to the theater (I think I saw at least one movie every weekend over summer), so I will gladly pay to see a good movie. Problem is 90% of movies are not good movies, so I feel no moral quandary watching those for free, not to mention the piss-ant theater here in town doesn't get half of them anyway.
For me it boils down to a problem of portability when talking about media. If I pay good money for something, I want to be able to do what I want with that thing (i.e. fuck the DMCA). If that things happens to a video file from iTunes or Amazon, I want to be able to move that file wherever I want (another computer of mine, my iPod, etc.), and I want to use my own software to watch it. I still haven't found a video played that I like better than VLC, so why shouldn't I be able to play MY file in MY media player? The day that I can exchange my money for a product that works the way I want it to, I will re-think my position, but until then these corporate media assholes and their DRM can kiss my ass.
Going to the heart the original question posed in this thread, I too am a soon to be graduate looking to get in to the software development area, but I am truly not worried about my software being pirated. Looking back through the history of software it is pretty clear to anyone with half a brain that piracy, in general, helps a product to grow. Even Microsoft has admitted that piracy is part of the reason behind their success. Young people like us who have no money steal the software and become familiar with it. As we grow up and move in to businesses we end up purchasing the software we are already used to. Sure, there will always be a small fraction that will never pay, but these are almost always home users, and the majority of software written is for business applications where the consequences of not purchasing a legitimate product are far more severe, and thus not worth the risk. It's the same reason behind the MSDNAA and drug dealers; get them hooked young with a free taste, and they will be a customer for life.
_________________ "Decadence is freedom with a smile" -Penn Jillette
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