P2P developers getting their own medicine

[napho]

The guys who produce Limewire are complaining about the spywarefree clone called FreeWire. Of course there are clean versions of other proggies too.
Scyth always reiterates that he uses the versions with advertising because otherwise they'll go broke. Spoken like a guy who puts in alot of work developing things. But isn't that how the movie studios feel when they spend $100 mil on a movie and it's being "shared" before it even opens?
If you live by the sword you eventually get shafted yourself ; just have to accept it.

[zombywoof]

Originally posted by napho
The guys who produce Limewire are complaining about the spywarefree clone called FreeWire. Of course there are clean versions of other proggies too.
Scyth always reiterates that he uses the versions with advertising because otherwise they'll go broke. Spoken like a guy who puts in alot of work developing things. But isn't that how the movie studios feel when they spend $100 mil on a movie and it's being "shared" before it even opens?
If you live by the sword you eventually get shafted yourself ; just have to accept it.

Greed will do that to a person.

[JackSpratts]

There are two issues here and I think they're really separate. Spyware and Payments.

i don't want, and will do everything i can to remove, any spyware on my system. if that's the only way developers can think of to make money they've got a bad imagination and a low opinion of their customers, and that means us.

let's get real here for a minute. more people sharing on a network increases the value of that network and the program along with it. so it's in the interests of software developers to get as many copies of hareshare or porkster out there on line and working.

the true value that any network has, its' "assets", is the amount of available files on its' hosts and those files come from the customers, not the companies. not to take anything away from the hard work put in by these creative developers but no one actually cares if their app was made by a vinnie or a pablo - that's irrelevant to the vast majority of regular users (sorry guys). what users care about is finding - and quickly downloading - the file they want when they want it.

sometimes i think it's the customer who should be paid, (the uploader acts like a store after all) who can then in turn send a bit along to the file creators.

but in a sense that's how it's being done already. the customers provide the bandwidth and the files and in return they get a crack at the stuff on other pc's, while hopefully the artists see their bookings increase and bottom line improve.

and if a developer asked me for a buck or two to pay for his hot new app, and he'd provide a bit of tech support along with it (instead of having me run his help line) i'd give him that buck or two. but as it is now, since we provide the files, bandwidth and the tech support, i try not to listen to their old whine any more than i have to.

- js.

[colinmacc]

Why is everyone so obsessed with making money out of the internet? I couldn't care less about making any money from writing programs, for me it's a HOBBY. I write programs 'cos I enjoy it, and it's nice to share what you've done with other people.

Big greedy corporations are killing the internet. Now it looks like dirty little grubs are trying to nibble at the apple too.

[Scyth]

Originally posted by napho
Scyth always reiterates that he uses the versions with advertising because otherwise they'll go broke. Spoken like a guy who puts in alot of work developing things. But isn't that how the movie studios feel when they spend $100 mil on a movie and it's being "shared" before it even opens?

I'm sure the movie studios feel somewhat like LimeWire does. I want new versions of LimeWire to be released . Therefore, I'll use the ad-enabled version fo LimeWire so that LimeWire LLC doesn't go broke. Similarly, I want new movies to be released. Therefore, I'll continue to go to theaters and rent/buy DVDs so that the movie studios don't go broke.

However, unlike the movie studios, LimeWire LLC has chosen to make their product free, in both senses of the word. They do this because they believe that it is possible to make a profit from a free product. The movie studios however place tight restrictions on their products, make every attempt to portray pirates as scum, and lobby Congress to have the public's right even further restricted. Given that I pirate the occasional movie (though I'm sure that this does not affect my spending on movies), I consider this to be an attack against me. For this reason, I tend to be much quicker to leap to the defense of LimeWire LLC than to the defense of the movie studios, even though I see the parallels between their positions.

I also think there's far more to lose in the case of LimeWire. Unlike the movie studios, LimeWire LLC is at risk of shut down. Also, unlike the movie studios, LimeWire LLC has an easy way to stop the abuse of their product, closing the source. There is much more danger of losing open-source p2p clients than there is of losing movies.

BTW, I think I've only made that statement that I "always reiterate" twice here and twice on ZP.

[Scyth]

Originally posted by colinmacc
Why is everyone so obsessed with making money out of the internet? I couldn't care less about making any money from writing programs, for me it's a HOBBY. I write programs 'cos I enjoy it, and it's nice to share what you've done with other people.

Big greedy corporations are killing the internet. Now it looks like dirty little grubs are trying to nibble at the apple too.

Capitalism (corporate greed, if you will) is what has brought the internet to the public. Capitalism is what brought file-sharing out of the underground. Capitalism is what is responsible for the leaps and bounds being made in gnutella network capabilities.

[Scyth]

Originally posted by JackSpratts
i don't want, and will do everything i can to remove, any spyware on my system. if that's the only way developers can think of to make money they've got a bad imagination and a low opinion of their customers, and that means us.

I also don't want, and will do everything I can to remove, any spyware on my system. In the case of LimeWire (and most other p2p clients), all this means is unchecking a few boxes in the installation program. Personally, I wish companies would stop bundling spyware since no one who understand what their doing would install it.

I feel differently, however, about third-party libraries whose sole purpose is to process advertisements in the same way a web-browser does.

[AweShucks]

Originally posted by Scyth


I also don't want, and will do everything I can to remove, any spyware on my system. In the case of LimeWire (and most other p2p clients), all this means is unchecking a few boxes in the installation program. Personally, I wish companies would stop bundling spyware since no one who understand what their doing would install it.

I feel differently, however, about third-party libraries whose sole purpose is to process advertisements in the same way a web-browser does.

Sadly it is true. There are people out there that have little understanding of what they are installing. The 3rd party "spyware" companies also do not clearly state the purpose of the programs as well. Often someone who thinks they know what they are doing actually believe they are getting something really special
Fact is that spyware is reaching a breaking point with users of free programs. Early programs didn't even have the check or uncheck option for spyware. Some still don't But it don't really matter anymore people are just getting sick of it. Maybe some remember early versions of Filenav which showed ads. No one really cared but after Spyware became "standard" people don't give a hoot if it is clean or not anymore.

[snowman]

I would pay for software instead of being dumped on by endless useless ads.

This whole free thing is out of control as far as I can tell.

[zombywoof]

Originally posted by snowman
I would pay for software instead of being dumped on by endless useless ads.

This whole free thing is out of control as far as I can tell.

Maybe there is something to be said about that. Perhaps the idea of bundling bloated packaged freeware will get so annoying, it will get to the point for many that they'd rather pay for a clean version if removal tricks get too complicated or render freeware useless..

[Scyth]

Originally posted by snowman
I would pay for software instead of being dumped on by endless useless ads.

LimeWire Pro: $8.50