There are some good and some bad things to piracy.
Piracy is doing the music business SOME good - it has made everyone aware of how much the musicians are getting ripped off by thir recording labels - many musicians don't get much money from their record sales - they make money in their concerts and paraphenalia sales like t-shirts etc. It's the label that are doing most of the freaking out not the musicians. HOWEVER of course some musicians have decent contracts and they are loosing out to piracy. The Movie industry is loosing out as astocr rarely complain about their labels etc.

the gaming industry is also losing... plus warez is just not fair to the developers of any software.

Honestly?

I am not paying for overpriced software and games. Or for movies.
Movies are ok these days, sometimes I rent, but I never buy them. Mostly because sometimes it takes too long to download.

I refuse to pay for software because of moral principle. I am buying something, but am not allowed to use it. I am buying something, and agreeing to this restrictive, and usually draconian license agreement.
The only game I have ever bought (and I've played a lot of games ) is Civ3, because I've always loved Civ & colonization. Spent many nights ruining my eyes playing those games, and they certainly deserve my money.
I will never buy another civ game in my life from what they have done. Releasing their patches and upgrades as something that people have to buy is not right. I've already paid for the game, why should I pay extra for something they promised would be in a patch? I'm proud to say I downloaded their patch from a warez site.. and I actually regret giving them the money in the first place.
Another thing is that entire activation.. cdkey, registring, nag part. I'd rather download the pirated version and skip all that, get right to the playing. Also the entire thing with having to have my CD in my drive to play a game is very annoying. Trying to restrict me from making a backup copy of my CD is also a very annoying thing (Not that it ever stops me, but it's just annoying to see them try).
When game (and for that matter software and music) companies realize that you should be nice to your customers and not milk them for money, they will have another cent from me.

Until then, long live warez

yeah I hear ya - I buy the odd copy here and there of stuff/musicians I really support or respect.

If the HL2 code is being rewritten do you think it's an opportunity to write a portable version? DO you think the guys at Valve simply just' don't know how??

I don't think it would be that complicated to implement it in opengl.
It's just a matter of translating the internals for DX to OpenGL. It's not that they can't. It's that they won't.
I'm sure they could finish in 1-2 months easy... It's all there. If they are good with OpenGL they could finish that part way faster.
The file loading scheme and so on is actually ready for Linux, so that's set. I honestly cannot see why they aren't doing this.

Worst part of all though.. the companies get the money, artists and the true people who really worked hard get very little compared to the board of directors and the CEO. Sure it's a tough job, but I can't see it beeing worth how much they are paid.

I am abit of a leech too - but mostly of stuff I would not buy anyway. If I really respect or like it then I buy it.

Yeah.. I really wouldn't buy some stuff I've downloaded even if it costed only $1.. heh
Like Windows.. but that's only because friends ask for it.

Way to go, brother, you are standing up for your rights. People should fight for their rights, I mean, look at what the game companies have done to them after making them pay for their work....oh wait....THAT'S NOTHING. Have you ever been called on making a copy? No. Have you ever been told anything about that disc after you have bought it? No. You just don't want to pay.

teval, no offense, but have you ever considered that civ3 charges for patches because theyre not making enough money because ppl use warez copies instead of real copies? if a company wants to charge money for a product that they made and that you like, dont be sleazy, just buy a copy and consider yourself to be helping them not charge for patches & updates. however, i will admit that some companies (i wonder who?) are just plain greedy.

I have.. no offence taken
But that hurts the people who want to pay, and who have already given them the money, and it doesn't entice new people to buy the game. It annoys the old customers, and encourages them to never buy your product again.
And you get bad publicity, I know a lot of people who bought civ3 where disgruntled about this. I'm sure many of them will be downloading the next version.
Nopes, I don't pay.. exactely because they are greedy. I tried paying, and ended up with a game that had lots of problems, and inbalances that where solved in an upgrade they wanted people to pay for.
A moral of the story: "You'll get more customers if you don't annoy your current ones by trying to milk them for money"

And you can't tell me these games are priced fairly? Or that applications are priced fairly?

ill admit that some companies are just greedy, but some actually need the money, and only do it for a short time.

yeah - sure did'nt linux tribes go down - prolly cos noone bought it and all the techies just found downloads.

If companies charged about $10 for a copy / key then that is fair.
ACTUALLY - I believe Counter Strike does this - no?

Or what about afew other linux gaming Co's - especially what's their name??? argh can't remember - really big tho...come on some knows...

dont you mean loki, mossy?

yep - that's the one!
thanks man.