Pirates of the Boardroom?
The last few weeks I've heard this ad on the radio, telling people to report any case of pirated software at their place of work. By doing this you would be eligable to receive a reward of up to $50,000. Of course the reality is that any reward would be 10% or just $5,000, but I digress.
Just imagine for a second this senario. You work for a small to medium sized company, they are relativily new, and are trying to make it in a very competitive market. And they happen to use some unregistared, copied, and yes if you want to call it that, pirated programs. You being the person you are find out and deside to snich. There are 2 posible out comes.
1) You tell and the company gets a fine or some other punishment. Oh and you get your reward. People are going to start asking questions, who reported? Even though the ad claims confidentiality, that is never assured. Sooner or later people will find out who it was. Then management will know. Although they can't fire you, in time they will find a way to let you go, either by removing you position by downsizing, or making life dificult so that you quit. I've seen it done before, so I know it happens. When you look for a new job, the bosses will tell any prosepctive employer that you sniched on them, and chances are finding a job will be hard.
2) You tell about the software, and once again the company is punished, only this time the punishment is severe. The company is hit financialy, they are hit so hard that they can't keep afloat, and they have to fold. The company shuts down and now everyone is out of work. All for a little reward.
Now don't get me wrong, I am definatly not a "company man". To me a job is just that, a job, a way to get money so we can survive in this world. I could care less about the company where I work. However I also know that there is a balence needed. I don't come to work and sleep all day. I realize that while I'm here I have to work hard, not so that the company can exceed and some big wig makes money, but rather because if people don't work the company could falter, or I could be out of a job. I do it for self preservation. And thats the point, why would someone rat on a little pirated software at the expense of theirs and others jobs. Is it really worth it? Besides, a little piracy isn't that bad. The software companies are giants and a little bit wont hurt.
In fact it might make things better. Look at what Napster did for the music industy. Dispite the crazzed rambalings of record labels and Metalica, among others, Napster did not destroy music, but rather re-invented it. It use to be that CD's were very expensive, $25 for a new album, much much more for something older. And there was really only one or 2 good songs on those albums. Really why should a person spend that much money for only 1 or 2 songs? By burning their own CD's, they get only the songs they want. It was a rebellion against the corupt music industry. Because of it, the industry had to lower their prices to a resonable level. Now most music fans will still use a P2P file transfer system to sample music. They'll download music from various artists and see if they like it. If they do, they go out and by the CD. What this does is showcase new music, especialy those not in the mainstread, or indie groups. It also makes other bands work harder to make good music or risk being dropped. Piracy actualy is helping save music.
Maybe the same is needed in software, to help keep prices down. Rebelion is always good. And always you have to look out for your best interests, and damaging the place where you make your income is not the way to do it. Better to let it go.
Just imagine for a second this senario. You work for a small to medium sized company, they are relativily new, and are trying to make it in a very competitive market. And they happen to use some unregistared, copied, and yes if you want to call it that, pirated programs. You being the person you are find out and deside to snich. There are 2 posible out comes.
1) You tell and the company gets a fine or some other punishment. Oh and you get your reward. People are going to start asking questions, who reported? Even though the ad claims confidentiality, that is never assured. Sooner or later people will find out who it was. Then management will know. Although they can't fire you, in time they will find a way to let you go, either by removing you position by downsizing, or making life dificult so that you quit. I've seen it done before, so I know it happens. When you look for a new job, the bosses will tell any prosepctive employer that you sniched on them, and chances are finding a job will be hard.
2) You tell about the software, and once again the company is punished, only this time the punishment is severe. The company is hit financialy, they are hit so hard that they can't keep afloat, and they have to fold. The company shuts down and now everyone is out of work. All for a little reward.
Now don't get me wrong, I am definatly not a "company man". To me a job is just that, a job, a way to get money so we can survive in this world. I could care less about the company where I work. However I also know that there is a balence needed. I don't come to work and sleep all day. I realize that while I'm here I have to work hard, not so that the company can exceed and some big wig makes money, but rather because if people don't work the company could falter, or I could be out of a job. I do it for self preservation. And thats the point, why would someone rat on a little pirated software at the expense of theirs and others jobs. Is it really worth it? Besides, a little piracy isn't that bad. The software companies are giants and a little bit wont hurt.
In fact it might make things better. Look at what Napster did for the music industy. Dispite the crazzed rambalings of record labels and Metalica, among others, Napster did not destroy music, but rather re-invented it. It use to be that CD's were very expensive, $25 for a new album, much much more for something older. And there was really only one or 2 good songs on those albums. Really why should a person spend that much money for only 1 or 2 songs? By burning their own CD's, they get only the songs they want. It was a rebellion against the corupt music industry. Because of it, the industry had to lower their prices to a resonable level. Now most music fans will still use a P2P file transfer system to sample music. They'll download music from various artists and see if they like it. If they do, they go out and by the CD. What this does is showcase new music, especialy those not in the mainstread, or indie groups. It also makes other bands work harder to make good music or risk being dropped. Piracy actualy is helping save music.
Maybe the same is needed in software, to help keep prices down. Rebelion is always good. And always you have to look out for your best interests, and damaging the place where you make your income is not the way to do it. Better to let it go.
posted by The Cube at 5:20 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home