Reply #17: Everybody. [View All]

First, we have only your word for it that you'd never buy.

Picture this for me; Every bit of software you have pirated disappears from your machine, and no more pirated software would ever be available again. Are there things that you would have to obtain eventually through purchase or open source? I find it hard to believe that you'd never be forced to one of those alternatives if there were no software for you to pirate.

If you would be forced to buy; Well, we have just proven who was hurt, both the software author, because he can't pay his heating bill this winter, and the other people who now buy that software because they likely pay more now than they would if sales were more brisk.

If you would be forced to use open source, then it is the open source community who is hurt by you pirating software. The OSS Community needs as many users as it can get. Users are the only way to find bugs. Users are the only way to achieve credibility.

And everybody, including yourself, is hurt by you breaking the social contract by stealing what others own.