Message-ID: <00b301c06529$651ae5e0$4e4bdcc8@alain-nb>
From: "Alain" <alainm AT pobox DOT com>
To: <opendos AT delorie DOT com>
Subject: Re: Decompression licensing (was Greed, nee DPMS info)
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 14:27:40 -0200
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Reply-To: opendos AT delorie DOT com


>This "airport raiding" story is a hoax. It has been already put to
sleep by
>the Brazilian authorities and ABES (the Brazilian version of BSA). And
I
>didn't understand your comment about "torture". Although we do have a
sad
>past, Brazil has been a democracy for nearly 20 years now.

my comment about "torture" is to exemplify that forceing someone to
show the contents of his notebook is just as undemocratic as torture.
The coercion is not by force, but by blackmail which is worse: "if
you don't show it now, we go to your office tomorrow". And it not a hoax
it has been reported my many independent persons.

>The fine for software piracy in Brazil is indeed 3000 times the price
of
>each illegal license found. Since DR DOS in Brazil costs $49 a piece,
an
>illegal copy of DR DOS could cost you US$ 147,000 in fines. Bad idea.

Legalizing the operating system, is not the most difficult (or
expensive) part.
The problem is with lots of small software pakages that were used some
time in the past and that you ned for support and are not for sale any
more.
There is another trap: I have seen a lot of people that have some
software (like WinZip) and _believe_ it is free. It comes freely in
magazines
but after 30 days it is illegal !! I wonder why nowhere you can find a
free
equivalent like EnZip (even better IMHO).

Alain