From Amiga Report, 3.09
===========================================================================
                             POTTER ON PIRACY
                            By Jonathan Potter
===========================================================================


Jason,


I just thought I'd write a quick letter to AReport to express my
disappointment with the actions of some members of the Amiga community. 
As you may be aware, Directory Opus 5 has just been released.  This is a
significant upgrade; the program has been completely rewritten after more
than 6 months of hard work.  Less than a week after its release, pirate
copies have already spread around the world.

Software piracy is a problem as old as computers themselves, and of course
we'd be naive not to expect it.  But to have the program appear so quickly
on pirate BBS' makes me wonder just exactly how tuned in to reality some
people are.  The position of the Amiga at the moment is exceptionally
precarious, as I would have thought was obvious to anybody, and the only
thing keeping it alive are the developers who still believe in the
platform.

Many times in the past six months I've had to ask myself why I was wasting
my time programming for a nearly-dead computer.  Obviously, I do it
because I enjoy it, but the hard truth is that I have to justify it in
dollar terms - philanthropy is all well and good, but if I don't make any
money I don't eat.  The Amiga market is already small enough without the
added burden of rampant piracy to contend with.

I guess all I'm trying to do is to appeal to people; if they really
believe in the Amiga, and really want to see it continue, don't contribute
to its downfall by ripping off the hard work of the very people who are
keeping it alive.

      Regards,

      Jonathan Potter

+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|     Jonathan Potter      yeti@adam.com.au     +61-412-845-696    |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+