fff00000ff23fe00c0909f70666
^3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

^2T H E   G R E A T   P I R A C Y  D E B A T E
                                 
^2                                  C O N T I N U E S . . . . .

^3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

^4 The  following  two  letters have been sent to us by JAG of Fanatix,
^4who  was  featured  in the last TA,(He has sent us some programs, see
^4the programs section) and Yazoo of Bitmap Productions who sent us his
^4version  of TA4, which although good, isn't suitable for our use.  He
^4edited in some docs files which are scattered about this issue.

^2 Please  note  that  any  views  expressed  in TA are not necessarily
^2shared  by  the  publishers,  other  readers  or  Europress Software!
^2Spelling  has  been  corrected,  but  the  content  appears as it was
^2received by us!

^3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
^2 This is JAG from Fanatix...

^5   I`d  just  like  to add to the letters in issue 4 of TA concerning
^5software  piracy.   I  don`t care what the magazines say about piracy
^5being wrong.  Whats wrong is software companies charging huge amounts
^5for  total  rubbish.   Most  of  the releases nowadays are a complete
^5waste  of money, and the software companies responsible DESERVE to go
^5out  of  business  due  to  piracy.   And  all the magazines are like
^5puppets  in the companies hands, they actually believe that if piracy
^5stops,  prices will fall.  Get serious!  They will always hike up the
^5prices  whenever  possible.   There  was a time that they said prices
^5would  fall  once  Amiga  sales  reached a certain amount.  Well, the
^5Amiga is now selling amazingly fast, and the prices continue to rise.

^5   However,  I  fully  agree that cracking and hacking Licenseware is
^5just  petty  to  the  extreme.  I suppose this is being done by truly
^5talentless  losers,  with no ability, that can`t even call themselves
^5proper crackers...  Licenseware prices are hardly crippling...

^3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

^2                 The Piracy Debate - 'Yazoo`s' View.

^4     Piracy  is  a problem, true, but the software pirates don't do it
^4for  any  of the reasons that we think.  High software prices, is the
^4reason  for  piracy  many  claim,  not  true!   It would not matter if
^4software was 1 pound, it would still be broken or trained (To train a
^4game  is  to give the player choices that make the game easier such as
^4infinate  lives  etc),  as  a  example  the  PD game 'Rollerpede' was
^4trained by 'The Punishers' so no matter how low the software publisher
^4will  go  the  games  will always be cracked.  (to crack a game is to
^4remove  its  copy  protection)  People  crack and train games for the
^4status,  as  its a race to crack or train a game first.  It is a very
^4competitive scene, and it will continue to be!

^4 Commodore's  effort  with  the smart card as a anti piracy device is
^4likely  to  fail,  as  did Oceans Dongle.  We know the dongle failed,
^4because  Robocop  3 has been around on the scene for a while, but how
^4can  I  know  that the smart card will fail, well if it acts like the
^4port on the side it will be easy, as you can get the Action Replay on
^4disk!!!   Also  the  A-Max roms have been able to be used from a disk
^4based version.  No matter what the developers do, the cracker will be
^4able  to  undo,  as  this  stands  to reason, if one human can do it,
^4another can undo it!

^4  One thing that annoys me is the magazines saying that crackers sell
^4their  'wares',  they  don't, in fact the majority are against it!  A
^4few years back there was a uproar over a group called 'Storm' because
^4they  sold  cracked games.  Most pirates would 'grass' on someone who
^4sells pirated software, in fact these are the people FAST attack, not
^4the  crackers, as they know that they will always be here, they are a
^4part of software publishing.

^4     The claims that piracy cuts a lot of software houses profits, is
^4untrue  to  an  extent,  about  70%  of  pirates would not buy a game
^4whatever,  unless is was very good!  In fact the 'hotest' swappers in
^4the  scene  never actually play the games, they just swap them, again
^4for  status.   Crackers  do  feel  guilty  for  destroying developers
^4profits,  at  least  some  of  them  do,  in  the 'Skid Row' crack of
^4'Lemmings' they urged the copier to buy the game, also 'Paranomaia`s'
^4(RIP)  slogan  was  'If a games worth copying then its worth buying'.
^4Though some obviously do not, as 'Fairlight' cracked 'Pinball Dreams'
^4which  was  made by ex 'The Silents' members, who were very active in
^4the  scene!   Though  the  crackers  did  say not to spread it to any
^4'Lamers' but who is going to take any notice of that?  No one, that's
^4who.

^4 So  what  can  games producers do?  Absolutely nothing, that's what.
^4It's  a  shame  but  its true.  Just only produce good games, and you
^4will get the reward you deserve, make a crap one, and don't expect to
^4make much!

^4 One last point, which is not about piracy (well s`pose it could be),
^4shareware,  in  TA4,  someone  said that the British aren't as honest
^4about  the  contributions,  as in contrast to the USA.  Untrue.  Why?
^4Well look at the size of the USA in comparison to the UK!!  There are
^4a lot more people.  So as an example.  we will say there are 15 times
^4more  people  in the USA than in the UK.  So using the above figures,
^4for  every 1 honest person in the UK, there is likely to be 15 honest
^4people  in  the  USA.   Thats  why  the  USA  is  a  better place for
^4shareware!!   Why  not many contributions come in, is up to you!  You
^4have to get as many people to see the proggy to get people to pay up,
^4ie  get  it spread around, you can't complain if all you do is put it
^4in a PD library, you have to send it to magazines, as if it gets on a
^4coverdisk, and it's any good, you should get loads of contributions.

^5 If anyone out there has the latest disk mags, contact me!

^5Yazoo/Bitmap 104 London Road, Stanway, Colchester, Essex, CO3 5HD.

^5 I am  interested  in  mags like LSD's Grapevine and Brainstorms Zine.

^2                            Yazoo in 92!


^4*********  Just to add a little note to the comments on Shareware.  I
^4received  a  call  from  David  Browder  from  Florida this week.  He
^4mentioned  that  he  has had more response from EUROPEAN users of his
^4Shareware releases than he has from the States!!!!

^3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
\