basically i need to poll a group of people for a report i'm doing. all i need from you guys is to vote. there is no need to discuss anything here as i dont want the thread to become closed, i just need some results. thx guys.

When i take my granddaughter to the local park and we play on a boat there,

we make pirates sounds such as arrrrggghhhhh, make em walk the plank captain!

so I'm voting yes.



My real answer, I downloaded QuickTime Alternate to see why people held it in high praise.
I discovered it uses the CoreAVC codec from corecodec.com
which isn't available in any trial or shareware form.

So I'm guilty of the 1st question in the poll.

I don't ever download illegal stuff... I let my friends do it for me!
Actually, I don't ever pirate software. I'm well behaved like that.
But I do have a habit of "borrowing" install CDs and installing the product without activating to see if I like it, kinda like a trial version, and then buy it if I like it and uninstall it if I don't. But I don't count that as pirating.

Pirates are the ones who distribute the content.

They rip it, they distribute it.

I admit, yes. I mean, who hasn't?

both ones - yes!
yessss!

Thanks to the piracy I could know great art pieces like propellerhead rebirth (now abandonware officially) and corel worperfect (now i have a license for version 8 and 2002 update, but they are replaced by openoffice one month ago)
Thanks to the piracy I could know true fiascos like wind*ws xp and some PSX games. I had felt swindled if i bought that.
Good and bad, piracy exists (even micr*s*ft gives thanks to it) and is a good shop helper(piracy don't include support) when the shareware cannot convince.

I do, but not for me, lol. I only do it for a "friend" that is in school. Very rarely I might add. I used to run a patched version of XP back in the day until I could afford it(couple months). Fully legit on here now and has been for some time.

I purchase access to newsgroups on a monthly basis, so yes to both questions. Paying for access makes it feel a bit more legit, but I know I'm only fooling myself with that kind of logic.

http://www.billybowlegs.com/

I do, yes, but not software. Tired of that stuff, did it for a little while then realized it's pointless and now I buy software. Music is another thing though.

When I start working full time I will purchase more music, but until then, I have a very fixed income.

I do with some productivity software, but not games. I buy those for sure. Music I can't say that really counts. That is such a fine line there. The problem is that a lot of bands actually bootleg their own stuff so I can't even count that.

Im sorry but i download illegal stuff almost everyday (games, software, movies,..)

Im really sorry but in our country and in my part of the country we are poor and we download through torrent!
For instance i cannot afford to buy Vista windows but with torrent its down in 6 hours!


bye

thanks for your responses and votes guys. you all bring out good points. im writing an essay against copy protections and everything have to do with it. some good reasons i have some of you have already pointed out, such as being poor or for specific programs that increase productivity.

All my teachers are citation-crazy. Cite this! Cite that! Bibliographies bibliographies bibliographies!

Would you need to cite this survey? And would this count as biased as far as numbers go because it is after all a computer geek/nerd/whatever site and more likely to have pirates? I agree that people raised good points and this would be helpful, but you should keep this stuff in mind.

Good luck on your paper!

I stole a bunch of letters out of your topic title, if that counts for anything.

Yes and no . Good luck with your essay, ripken!

sadly, i downloaded one thing legally, turns out its become illegal, so i guess that makes it illegal because i use it?

bah. a single modified operating system. no music, no programs, and i don't game anyway.

the company actually now distributes the modified OS, so i don't even know how to count it. it was illegal when i did it. havent made it completely work though. haven't gotten into a GUI with it, just command line stuff.

i download pirate software for one reason and thats to find the best and then and there i buy it..
it took me over 7 different dvd encoding softs then i found one worth buying
it took 9 different antivirus programs till i found the one

so i do believe in supporting the makers of any softs or game...ect.

I don't pirate anything. However, I do a lot of beta testing.....

ya i was wondering about that too, ill have to ask my teacher about it, i doubt he will let me use what you guys said but im sure i can find it somewhere else. as for the poll, im pretty sure that he will let me use that. he wants some sort of an interview/survey from people who are "experts" on the topic. so i guess this is a good place to ask.

Hard to say. Since anyone can create an account, the information could be bogus. I doubt it is, but that's an uncontrollable variable. How do you classify "expert" when anyone could post this? I could be Bill Gates (I'm not ) or I could be your stupid eight-year-old neighbor (I'm not that either ). I guess you will have to talk to him. Have you showed him the poll?

In fact, I just thought of something. Isn't taking info from a poll like this without citing *sort of* like pirating? I mean, not really, but since we're talking about this, it is an interesting thought.

When you're done can you post your essay for us to read?

well by "expert" im referring to people who have experience with it. i can just go ask my dad, "when was the last time you downloaded a torrent?" he would be like, "wtf are you talking about." you see what i mean?

my essay wont be done for a month, it need to be a nice 10 pages long... im going to be writing about copy protections and everything having to do with them.

I could ask my parents, and they'd think I was talking about a river.

(As in a torrent... from a river... they wouldn't get the download part.)

please no more posts about if you illegally download things or not. i do not want this thread to be closed. thanks for all of your input guys

vindications are illegal too?

Well, now im replacing my software (even purchased software) with GNU based apps.
The openoffice case for example is for office compatibility (wordperfect is powerful, but is not very compatible and my pc is used by losers too). Now is turn of photoshop (i have gimp and an old adobe pack that comes with a Yamaha CD-RW)
Games? My pc (1999) and my powerbook (1997) are outdated. Im using games provided from HOTU.
Currently, in Lima (a city of Peru) i found Win98/XP and other software licenses IN THE TRASH! or re-selled with for a few dollars. It's a good chance for legalize some copies.

PD: Exists any GNU based alternative to Autocad (2D design only) for PC?. I tested a Autocad 2004 demo in my pc and is v e r y s l o w. My version of minicad (minicad 6.0 for macintosh-1995, discontinued.) is VERY outdated (if is possible, suggestions for my powerbook).

CAD:
http://www.octree.de/

not GNU, but free for non-commercial use

Well, school is about to end for most schools in the US, so where's that report you were writing? can we see it now? Pleeeeeaaaaassssseeee?

It's probably too late, but you might want to check this out. Since you said you're done with school, where's that paper?

Yes and yes. I do love freeware but sometimes it doesn't cut it, and we have bills and food to pay for, as well as a wedding in August and a child expected in January. So in regards to paying money for software, no can do for now. If developers are considerate, they will award beta testers with free licenses; like JV16 PowerTools.

Yes and Yes as well.

Sometimes I download full albums to see what there like, as 30 seconds preview on iTunes aint enough for me! And then if I liek I buy, truthfully.

Also, if a Film isnt out on DVD yet, I'd download it, but buy it when its out, as I love crisp DVD quality on my 6.1 sound system

Most stuff I'd buy after "pirating"

who hasn't and who doesn't!

For my day to day stuff, I buy my software. My XP is legit. But, when I'm testing a new build or something, I use a bootleg copy of XP Pro Volume License. I do that because I don't want to deal with the activation hassles on a test computer who's hardware build changes frequently. And that's on one machine only. When I build a computer for someone, I make them pay for a legit copy of XP, and they get a legit copy of XP.

The only time that I will go and download music is if I cannot find it anywhere else. I listen to Heavy Metal (I'm an old rocker) which is predominately found here in the US, so no need to pirate it. Just goto the local Best Buy or Fry's Electronics and get the CD. Since I have also developed a taste for anime, I also listen to alot of Japanese language music, which is hard to find here in the US. Certain internet based specialty shops do carry it, but they are few and far between. In most cases, I have to import it from Japan. And yes, I do understand alot of what they are saying in those songs too.

As for movies, I don't download period. I either watch them On Demand or Rent/Buy the DVD.

The most essential software which I have such as operating system, office software and anti-virus are properly licensed through my work. For the rest I use freeware where possible. If paid software does the job better, chance is big that I'll download an illegal copy of it. I produce my own music and a lot of the software which I use costs a fortune, which I simply can't afford. I used to be active in the warez scene ages ago, but now I'm on the other side, only downloading.

Hell Yeah.

Utorrent and Demonoid.

I download for testing software, movies and music.