    What pirates must remember is that it takes 12 months of bloody hard work
    to get a product to market, then more time to get some money in etc.
    Development of Dopus 5 was actually funded by GPFax.  It is quite simple
    if people keep pirating our Amiga software we will just have to give up
    and go elsewhere.  It would be a pity."

    Dr Greg Perry

    GPSoftware, PO Box 570, Ashgrove, Qld Australia 4060 Ph/fax +61 7 3661402

    Internet: zzgperry@mailbox.uq.oz.au

    First let me state: I'm not attempting to create any illusions here.  I'm
    no angel, and I haven't bought every piece of software I own.  I wish I
    had the money to, and if I were not a student with zero real-income I
    would certainly buy a hell of a lot more software.  This message is aimed
    at those who can easily afford to buy software and support their machine
    but don't.  Of course some people are worse than others.  Think of those
    selling pirate copies of other people's software and making so much money
    that they can afford to buy mega-expensive pieces of hardware and all
    kinds of stuff through virtually no work of their own (there IS such a
    thing as a free-lunch).

    Enough moral high-horsing, let's talk.

    The Amiga is in a bad state.  It isn't a machine which is in every other
    house, office, or school.  Everyone who has really got past inserting a
    game at the kickstart screen knows that the Amiga has the best OS on any
    home computer (sure, AmigaOS has holes in it at the moment, but I'd rather
    wear a raincoat with holes than one that dissolves in water!).  Another
    thing the Amiga has going for it is the great support by PD and shareware
    programmers - people who really love the machine and write software for
    that single reason.  Let's face it, if you look at how much software comes
    out (from MicroSoft alone!) on the PC, commercial software development on
    the Amiga has all but stopped in comparison.  (Of course, bar a few games,
    there's very little I could do on the PC that I would not do better on an
    Amiga, despite the vast amounts of releases).  I would go as far as to say
    that if all commercial software development on the Amiga stopped today, I
    would continue to use the Amiga for a long time to come, using the PD
    software, and writing my own stuff until I could afford my own
    SiliconGraphics machine, because I'm used to a REAL computer, without
    bottlenecks, workarounds, bad standards, and inherently-flawed hardware
    covered with a paper-thin gloss of leading edge technology.  There is some
    incredible shareware software out there, but none of these people are
    earning enough from it to support them.  Broadly speaking, there is a
    point where projects become so large that none but the rich-hobbyist can
    afford to make them just for fun and the love of a machine.  Unless you've
    already made your fortune, you are simply not able to spend a year
    developing a program, because you won't even be able to pay the bills to
    keep your machine fed with electricity (well, OK, my SAmiLog3 is taking
    about 2 years to develop, but so far it could have all been done in 2
    weeks!).

    So isn't it easy to understand why so many people have dumped the Amiga?
    No matter how much you love the machine, you can't make a living out of it
    if not enough people buy the software.  The fact that developers who have
    experienced the *JOY* of programming on the Amiga can write software in
    the *DREADFULL* PC environment is an indication of just how much piracy
    has affected the Amiga market.  On the PC, so many people own the machine
    that stupid things like a Screen-Blanker, which would never be a
    commercial product on the Amiga, have huge price tags slapped on them, and
    the stupid market buys it.  (This is more or less what the PC is based on:
    a STUPID market who are happy to follow all the trends because they don't
    know that there is another way of doing things).  Because the PC market is
    so huge now a product will make money even if only a tiny percentage of
    people buy it.  Piracy may be a Robin Hood operation on the PC, but on the
    Amiga it is suicide for those who love the machine, and a disappearing way
    to make some quick money for those who don't give a stuff about it (notice
    how most of the parasites who were in the scene to make money have left
    the Amiga for the PC (of course, a large number of very talented and great
    people have also gone that way too, to our loss)).

    It's even worse on the PC, but I still think that the price of games on
    the Amiga is too high, especially considering many will last two weeks at
    most for someone like me.  But on the Amiga we simply cannot complain
    about the cost of productivity programs.  Let's look at Directory Opus as
    an example.  This is a program which PC users would kill for, (and they
    would have to) yet it cost about the same price as many PC games!  Walk
    into a software shop some day and have a look at just how much serious
    software costs on the PC.  Of course, just because our (better) software
    is cheaper than the PC's doesn't mean it is reasonably priced.  What is
    reasonable is an individual's choice, but I personally feel that a program
    such as Directory Opus is very good value for money.  Not everyone likes
    DOpus, especially the controversial new version (believe me, use it for a
    week and you won't ever want to go back to DOpus4 !), and it's always been
    a program which has polarized opinions.  You either love it or hate it,
    because a file management program is something that if you use at all, you
    probably use every single day you turn your computer on.  When you use
    something as good as DOpus every day, and it costs as little as it does,
    there is very little excuse for not buying it.

    If you're using a pirate copy of Directory Opus 5, just think about this.
    Is the cost (and I would hardly call it expensive!) really so great,
    considering how much work has gone (and continues to go) into the program
    which you use every day and wouldn't be the same without?  If you're using
    DOpus5 it is because you think it's the best, not because there is nothing
    else to do the job, as there are many, many other file-management programs
    for the Amiga.  It isn't like people using AmiExpress because it's
    virtually the only option, despite the fact that it is incompetently
    programmed and designed (if it is designed at all).  If I hated DOpus as
    much as I hated AmiExpress when I used that every day too, I would never
    have paid a penny for it and certainly wouldn't be urging anyone else to.
    However, I have a great deal of respect for the people behind DOpus, and I
    wish that they were getting rich from it (but not so rich that they
    wouldn't talk to me any more :), because they certainly deserve to.

    I know a lot of people read AmigaReport, so many of you will have seen the
    message from Jonathan Potter about how damaging the almost instant pirate
    release of DOpus was, and how upset he was personally.  Now it seems that
    an internal beta copy has even been released (there isn't even honour
    among thieves).  I've been talking to both Jonathan and Greg Perry a great
    deal during the past few weeks and they have been both helpful with my
    problems and open to my suggestions, not to mention extremely friendly and
    willing to take the time to talk to me.  You wouldn't get that from a lot
    of other companies, and I guess it's a little ironic that the smaller
    companies can often offer better tech-support.  Greg and Jonathan have
    both done a great deal for me, and this is my small way of doing (trying
    to do) something in return.

    I urge people not to release any more of the updates of DirectoryOpus.
    Those who would actually want the updates must like the program enough to
    be able to spend the small amount of money it takes to actually buy the
    program.  You can't even use the excuse that you're doing it for respect,
    because virtually ANYONE who knows how to use DMS could release a new copy
    of DOpus.

    For the same reasons, I urge people not to release copies of the manual,
    as this and tech-support are about the only incentives to buy the program
    for people who don't even care about the developers and the future of the
    Amiga.  There are many features of DOpus5 that you will probably never
    find without reading the manual.  Incidentally, there will not be an
    electronic (AmigaGuide) version of the ARexx commands appendix for the
    sole reason of sales.  Think about what that means.  (Looks like I'm too
    late in saying this, someone has already released the manual :( ).

    Come on, if someone with as little money to spend as me at the moment can
    manage to pay the small cost, surely you can too.

    The only other reason that you should buy your copy of DOpus5 (for those
    who really just don't care about anyone or thing but themselves) is that
    DirectoryOpus has to be the most frequently "faked" program of all time.
    If I had a pound for ever fake copy (some with a virus attached) of DOpus
    that I've seen on certain BBS, I would be able to buy myself a second
    copy.  If you want to be able to TRUST your copies, you have to BUY them.
    (For those of you thinking things are dandy, BOTH of the TWO versions
    claiming to be Directory Opus v5.1 are BOTH *BETA* versions, and not the
    real v5.1!!  (YES, even the "German release" one).  How does that make you
    feel about trusting new versions?  Next time it could look just as much
    like an official release but wipe your harddrive.)

    DOpus5 is STILL being worked on and updated.  Think how many of the great
    Amiga programs you use on a daily basis are still being updated.  We
    really cannot afford to left any more developers leave our platform if we
    want our software to continue to be up there with the other machines'.