"Whether committed with a gun or a keyboard - theft is theft,"

errrr except a gun can kill you and the act is usually traumatic. I don't see software company execs going to therapy due to piracy. Bottom line there is a destinction.

I wonder why he stopped there. Not for profit copyright infringement is a terrible crime. It is exactly like terrorism. Or genocide. Actually, it's even worse. It's the worst crime imaginable. Keeping monopoly abusing cartels from making even more money. They should give him the chair. Him and all those hundreds of millions of thieves who keep sharing files.

"And, for those inclined to steal Intellectual Property here, or from half-way around the world, they are on notice that we can and will reach them."

...Yeah, we'll reach them and we'll find them, just like we found bin Laden!

Heh... Most pirates don't have the funds or connections to pull a bin Laden.

Communists, all ye who support the thief.

Wow, Cold War era insults!

Better dead than red!

I think he meant socialists. Minor distinction, really, but I suppose it helps to be specific.

well software theft is illegal but how software developers keep things easy they dont know that it can be cracked. i dont think so.....

Drink Or Die still is one of my favorite groups. As long as there is no profit for this group and software prices are not adjusted they act like Robin Hood.
They make software accesable to less rich people, for example students, who have a career with it which is good for the economy and the software producer.
OS2 would have won from MS Windows if MS Windows wasn't spread illegally so everybody used it already, which was a reason for large businesses and system operators to choose this software.

Are you kidding me? OS2, while a superior OS didn't lose out to Windows because of piracy, it lost out just as Mac lost out because the morons running the company wanted to keep everything proprietary and didn't hire good marketing people.

Learn your facts before you spout off next time.

Kids.......

"if MS Windows wasn't spread illegally so everybody used it already"

That's a complete lie. Gates is/was a brilliant marketeer and got IBM to sign on and agree to ship all of their PC's with Windows. That's not illegal. Then academic institutions agreed to sell MS software at 'student pricing' for all those that signed on with the MS Campus Agreement. Those 2 deals alone sealed MS.

I'm all for open-source, but let's not degrade ourselves to thinking that MS got to where it was because of pirates and other illegal activities.

OS2 had combined sales and great marketing as well. How many people use it is an important weight-factor when choosing a product.

It was just an example of how pirated copies can gain you a market.

Apple was run by monkeys when Microsoft was dominating software industry in the 90s. Their OS and design was a joke. Their turn around came when they fired their previous CEO and replaced him with Jobs. The first thing Jobs said on his meeting is that their products SUCKS.

Apple v.s. MS is a whole different story.
Still it leads to another good example: A pirated copy of OSX goes around which makes it possible to run OSX on your regular intel PC (with BIOS).
I know several people who choosed to buy a Mac Book based on their expierence with this pirated copy. Without it they would not be convinced to buy it.

Just to set the facts straight to all you young'uns.. I was THERE ok? I didn't get my "facts" from some alleged know it all website :) The fall of OS/2 was the result of several major issues:
[1] - IBM didn't WANT to promote their proprietary OS - not after still nursing the bloody nose over the failed microchannel hardware loss in the courts. (FYI, call OS/2 proprietary, but isn't windows also proprietary? and every other non-linux-based os out there? :) )
[2] - IBM has always been first and foremost, a hardware solutions retailer. They simply lacked the knowledge on how to market software properly. I remember their few failed attempts (my favorite was the nuns :) )
[3] - IBM was lukewarm in support for the business clients, and all but missing to consumer users for support of OS/2.
[4] - OS/2 - though still far superior to windows even today in many aspects, was always plagued with that SIQ issue that made all the good things in it all but overlooked (remember voice type dictation and navigation built into the core of the os when "windows" still only had things like dragon dictate? You could literally boot your system and (after you spent a significant amount of time setting it all up) never have to use your mouse or keyboard again. simply tell your computer what you wanted to do, where you wanted to go, which apps to run etc! and to this day, even with the latest generation version of OS/2 outsourced and marketed as eComStation or something like that, I believe the SIQ issue still esists.
[5] - IBM tried halfheartedly to get OS/2 out there. they even made contacts with all the major 3rd party developers to develop versions of their software for OS/2.. adobe, corel, etc... and when the betas started coming, the promised funds from IBM seemed as much vaporware as the final products from those developers that IBM didnt pay as promised.
[6] - Comparing the IBM marketed and sold version of OS/2 at the time, OS/2 warp 3 and then 4, to the competing version of windows at those times (windows 98 and 2000), OS/2 was infinitely harder to network and a lot less user friendly than windows. I will give you that it was better once you knew HOW to use it, the learning curve was significantly harder than windows.
[7] - Because of the vast difference in OS/2 Object oriented, multi-tasking, multi-user architecture and the Windows Object linking and embedding, extremely well managed task switching, single user architecture - developers had an infinitely greater task in developing apps for os/2.
[8] - The biggest killer IMO os OS/2 had nothing to do with any of the above... it was simply that OS/2 was "too good" from the base level... let me explain... all the software companies that spawned and became rich offering vast amounts of software to allegedly fix all the problems with windows couldnt have made that same market in os/2. OS/2 was virus proof, only had that 1 SIQ issue that would crash it, and never needed defragging or scan disking. why? os/2 defragged quickly every reboot, if errors were found, scan disked at the same time and fixed them, and because of the way the os seperated and ran apps (way too complicated to put in here) was totally virus proof! if it wasn't for that SIQ issue and ease of use issues, yes, OS/2 was the best os since SlicedBread OS (tm)

but all that is ancient history.. we are stuck with windows and the numerous issues we have grown to love to complain about with it.

This guy is 44 years old and lives with his parents.

The Hero of millions of entitled, self-centered criminals.

One can only hope the grow up to be just like him. The fewer of them that spawn, the better we'll all be. Less garbage in the gene-pool.

Love how you put "victims" in quotes, Ed. Your bias is showing.

g** d*** i hate your guts pc_tool. please drive to atlanta some time so i can beat your ass.

"The Hero of millions of entitled, self-centered criminals." ~ PC Tool

Excuse me, PC_Tool, are you by chance referring to the robber barons of today, e.g., Kenneth Lay, former chairman and CEO of Enron, and Jeffrey Skilling, former CEO and COO of Enron?

Bias showing on BetaNews? Oh the horror!

wtf is that for? It's an opinion. Agree with it or not, PC_Tool has every right to post, same as you. Grow up.

lmao.

Must have struck a nerve there, eh?

Mommy wake you up a little too early this morning?

What did my guts ever do to you?

must fancy himself one of those self entitled pirates eh?

Good redence, although why isn't he getting put into a British jail or something.

Lets get rid of the scum and make it another country's problem.

Wow wonder what you had to drink to get in? Drink or Die :)..

$50million,, i bet those people that used his software actually bought it for their work eventually or something. Still piracy hurts bill gates's 50 billion dollar piggy bank.

At least Bill Gates' $50 billions will do great causes for the less fortunate. After all, he is the greatest philanthropist alive.

What did you the other Billionaires like Steve, Larry, Brian, Eric did?

50m really?? good thing they were before the movies and music became huge.. the RIAA/MPAA companies would have claimed more like 50B.. 20$ for each download + 20B just for good luck.

It probably took 50 million just to find and catch this guy, gather evidence and extradite him. So I guess that means he made 100 million disappear, some people are expensive huh? Now add to that the money to jail him for the 51 months

I mean for the lengths they went to find and get this guy you would of thought he was a vicious serial killer or at least robbed 10 banks. I mean damn its ridiculous. It's virtual money anyway, 50 million was not actually stolen or lost, if it was literal then I would love to see how they figured that out. So I don't get it.

Funny thing is...this guy got you software for free...now you have to pay to keep him in jail (through taxes), AND you have to pay for software that you would have otherwise gotten free. :)

Should've gone to Mexico...

...while child molesters, murderers, Hollywood actors go free. What an f'ud up society we live in - the dollar is thy god.

Yup, I agree with your opinion! but I am sure there will be plenty of responses that will say otherwise! :)

Different judges, different states, different cases. Blame the states for not making mandatory sentences for molesters and murderers.

ladylust - PC_Tool in drag?

Nah, that'd be PC_Toolette. ;)

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