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Six Reasons Why Customers (or Noncustomers) Feel Free to Cheat Software Companies
WordStar clones like NewWord aren’t illegal. Getting a “free” WordStar from a friend, however, is.
“It’s like illegally getting a second typewriter—copied from a friend’s, down to the serial number,” a software columnist observes. “You’re stealing a valuable tool.” H. Glen Haney, the president of MicroPro, told me that most copies of WordStar in use are bootlegged ones.
While opposing the practice, I’ll list six reasons why customers cheat:
1. It takes all of two or three minutes—maybe less—to copy a disk worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Yes, anti-bootlegging gimmicks exist. But often they reduce software sales; would you be as keen to buy a $500 disk if you couldn’t easily make backups?
2. Everyone does it.
3. Computer users want to befriend others with similar machines so they can draw on them for technical hints or back up equipment.
And what better way to cement a new friendship than at a copying session where the users swap programs? That’s the thinking.
4. Many software companies overprice their wares. Yes, it’s expensive to develop good programs; but some companies, rather than creating innovative products, gouge you to pay for development of copycat offerings. They themselves rip off people—their more imaginative rivals. (No criticism of NewWord here. It is much cheaper than the original WordStar and offers some improvements.)