Fractal ICONS Plugin

[Orvillain]

You can be sure that when my stuff launches, it will get cracked. You can also be sure that at random points throughout the usage period, if it detects that the binary has been decrypted or fucked with, you're going to get a fully animated goatse on your screen every single time you launch the plugin. Fuck piracy and fuck pirates.

 

[Chocol8]

Your opinion is certainly your right to have. But "good luck and have fun with your sub-optimal business" is the only rational response to it.

I am guessing I know WAY more about business than you do.

Smart businesses know which customers are profitable and which cost more than they are worth. Thieving scum are not profitable, and converting thieving scum into paying customers usually costs more than they are worth. The idea that they will suddenly gain ethics and become worthwhile defies many many centuries of experience with human nature.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Your opinion is certainly your right to have. But "good luck and have fun with your sub-optimal business" is the only rational response to it.

It’s also possible to run a successful business without needing to prioritise and reward people who steal from you. All of your suggestions put the thieves as the priority which I’d imagine isn’t most companies plan.

 

[GreatGreen]

I am guessing I know WAY more about business than you do.

Smart businesses know which customers are profitable and which cost more than they are worth. Thieving scum are not profitable, and converting thieving scum into paying customers usually costs more than they are worth. The idea that they will suddenly gain ethics and become worthwhile defies many many centuries of experience with human nature.

Ok got it, you have no idea what you're talking about.

Unless you can explain Valve Software and their answer to piracy ensuring their total market domination in the billions of dollars for the last several decades. Yes I keep coming back to them, specifically because of their relevance to this conversation.

 

[Orvillain]

Ok got it, you have no idea what you're talking about.

Unless you can explain Valve Software and their answer to piracy ensuring their total market domination in the billions of dollars for the last several decades. Yes I keep coming back to them, specifically because of their relevance to this conversation.

You've completely sidestepped the links I posted. Chicken.

 

[GreatGreen]

It’s also possible to run a successful business without needing to prioritise and reward people who steal from you. All of your suggestions put the thieves as the priority which I’d imagine isn’t most companies plan.

Please explain how anything I said could be interpreted as support for "rewarding people who steal from you." I'll wait.

More forum virtue signalling because you think Cliff is reading.

 

[GreatGreen]

You've completely sidestepped the links I posted. Chicken.

Lol, I read through the first one. It is unconvincing at best and like its very headline says... it leaves us with more questions than answers. Just linking the first article that comes up in the google search won't quite do it.

 

[Orvillain]

Lol, I read through the first one. It is unconvincing at best and like its very headline says... it leaves us with more questions than answers. Just linking the first article that comes up in the google search won't quite do it.

Okay, so you're just going to strawman and rely on headlines. lol. You're not GreatGreen. You're ShitGreen.

 

[DrewJD82]

All due respect, I think this mindset is part of the problem. You're categorizing pirates as "terrorists" and fully writing them off as flatly terrible evil bad people as opposed to seeing them as potential customers to win back. One of those approaches is more profitable. Just ask Valve Software, a video game company of 336 employees, worth over $20 billion as of last year, who got there very specifically because of their understanding of the problem of piracy and the system they designed to address and counter it.

People who steal for the sake of stealing are bad people. I do not feel anything should be done to try to garner their business, I’d rather put that money into hiring a PI to attempt to get them formally charged with pirating.

The only thing that would get someone who pirates software to purchase it would be spinning the product in their favor somehow, which is where the ‘negotiating with terrorist’ comes into play. The video game world already brought us “Buy it for what it does now, not what it’s promised to do” and I’m more than happy to keep it at that.

These things aren’t a necessity, I strongly disagree with rewarding bad behavior by making something more enticing to follow the law in order to obtain. That’s seems backwards to me.

 

[Orvillain]

More forum virtue signalling because you think Cliff is reading.

That's just dogshit. No one gives a fuck if Cliff is reading. I'd say the same stuff if Urs Heckmann was posting here, or Doug Castro.

 

[Orvillain]

People who steal for the sake of stealing are bad people. I do not feel anything should be done to try to garner their business,

And more to the point, you can't do anything to get their business. Because they are not stealing for monetary reasons, the same way people aren't robbing shoes from Foot Locker for monetary reasons. They're doing it because they're feral little shithawks. Simples.

 

[Chocol8]

Ok got it, you have no idea what you're talking about.

No, that would be you. You clearly have no relevant experience and no knowledge. What did you read one article about one company and now you think you're an expert? LOL!

Yes there are businesses that target the lower rungs of humanity and accept higher risk in order to go after a customer base most of their competitors choose to avoid. Sometimes it works out, often it doesn't. Clearly FAS has never been that kind of business and they have no need to suddenly become one.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Please explain how anything I said could be interpreted as support for "rewarding people who steal from you." I'll wait.

More forum virtue signalling because you think Cliff is reading.

Virtue signalling for Cliff even though my own stuff get pirated and stolen? Is being against theft virtue signalling?

These are examples of putting people who steal software in front of actual paying customers who have genuine needs for plugins.

All due respect, I think this mindset is part of the problem. You're categorizing pirates as "terrorists" and fully writing them off as flatly terrible evil bad people as opposed to seeing them as potential customers to win back. One of those approaches is more profitable. Just ask Valve Software, a video game company of 336 employees, worth over $20 billion as of last year, who got there very specifically because of their understanding of the problem of piracy and the system they designed to address and counter it.

Here's an idea. If I was Cliff, I'd release my own special "pirated" version of the software that would work fine for about [random number of minutes] after initial launch, but then all the functionality would break over the course of another [random number of minutes], after which the sound would garble up and quit working. Do not explain that it's a pirated copy, do not throw a middle finger at the pirate. No gotcha moments. Instead, let the pirate draw the conclusion that "the pirated version" of the software "must not have been pirated right" and that they should instead get the real thing if they want it to work. Flood this version all over the place to obfuscate the actual pirated version so pirates have a higher chance of getting the "special" version. This effectively manipulates the market such that purchasing the legitimate version will guarantee a vastly superior experience vs the experience of trying to find a "working" pirated version by scouring through the worst places on the internet.

Equating music tools to video games is equally pointless - just because plugins and software might be a hobby or game to some, that’s not the case for all.

 

[GreatGreen]

You've completely sidestepped the links I posted. Chicken.

This study mentioned in the article found no statistically significant of sales displacement across the board.

This study funded by Google found a 4.1% loss of sales of blockbuster films. 4% isn't "literally nothing" but... it's a rounding error.


Feel free to post more articles "proving" how devastating piracy is to sales, lol.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

There is no black and white. To get to the heart of the matter, a nuanced conversation is required. I mean, figuring out whether we're at a 0.1, 0.09, or 0.115 on the 0-255 gray value scale is going to take pages and pages of really thoughtful and respectful conversation to pick apart...

...all to wind up with "wow, that...really looks like black unless in really strong light against another known example of complete black that we've already agreed doesn't actually exist".

 

[Orvillain]

Feel free to post more articles "proving" how devastating piracy is to sales, lol.

I already told you fxpansion saw a 30% hit.

This study funded by Google found a 4.1% loss of sales of blockbuster films. 4% isn't "literally nothing" but... it's a rounding error.

If a solo developer makes a delay plugin, and would've made 40k in a year, but they actually get 1600 less... that is not a rounding error. That's a full months rent at least.

 

[Chocol8]

Be careful people, we have a Google search expert who knows everything. He must have a PhD from the Dunning Krueger school of online experts, so there is no winning a debate with this genius.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

There is no black and white. To get to the heart of the matter, a nuanced conversation is required. I mean, figuring out whether we're at a 0.1, 0.09, or 0.115 on the 0-255 gray value scale is going to take pages and pages of really thoughtful and respectful conversation to pick apart...

...all to wind up with "wow, that...really looks like black unless in really strong light against another known example of complete black that we've already agreed doesn't actually exist".

What’s the justification for theft of music software then? Would there be valid justification for someone to steal from any other business? or for people to steal from you?

 

[Orvillain]

Be careful people, we have a Google search expert who knows everything. He must have a PhD from the Dunning Krueger school of online experts, so there is no winning a debate with this genius.

It's just mental isn't it?! When you have actual experts talking on a topic, and every Tom, Harry, and Dickhead, thinks their opinion carries equal weight. Fucking hell man.

What’s the justification for theft of music software then? Would there be valid justification for someone to steal from any other business? or for people to steal from you?

There's a certain type of person who thinks that stealing shoes from a shop is defensible, or stealing from a multi-conglomerate corporation is defensible. They'll even go as far as to misrepresent the whole thing, and pretend that the only theft happening is poor downtrodden mothers stealing baby formula for their kiddos.

It's all wrong. End of story. It is that simple. And you know what? I'd turn a blind eye to that last example. But stealing luxury consumer goods? Nah, fuck off.

 

[AlbertA]

Ok got it, you have no idea what you're talking about.

Unless you can explain Valve Software and their answer to piracy ensuring their total market domination in the billions of dollars for the last several decades. Yes I keep coming back to them, specifically because of their relevance to this conversation.

Ironic, because a Pirate almost destroyed them when they stole the pre-release version of Half-Life 2 - also it's easier to "deal with piracy" once you have enough in the Bank (by charging the 30% tax on developers backs BTW)