    From Amiga Report, 3.09
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                                 POTTER ON PIRACY
                                By Jonathan Potter
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    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

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