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On Thu, 13 Jul 1995, Herr Doktor Benway wrote:

> > Most of these kids have learned that it is not cool to pass around 
> > copyrighted material, but will pass around share-ware.  The schools have 
> > been more inclined to include "computer ethics" and "responsible use" into
> > the cirriculum.  They are told that copying a $400 "Office" package is 
> > like stealing $400
> 
> 
> Are you sure of this?  Seems kind of unrealistic.  It's been a few (but only
> a few) years since I was one of those kids, and we were nowhere near that
> moral.  The motto was "Piracy: because cheap is not cheap enough."  I do
> agree that piracy is being frowned upon more these days, especially as we
> can start to fell it effecting quality and price, but does a 12-year-old
> care?  I didn't.  I was playing mechwarrior.

The kids are being told not to pirate in kindergarten.  Of course, we 
tell them not to use drugs (while sipping the scotch or puffing the 
cigarrette), Lie (after telling a creditor we had a death in the family),
steal (after bragging about how we found a little extra deduction that's 
not REALLY Kosher), have sex before marriage (after having a fight with 
our spouses about the rotten sex life).  We tell them to work hard to get 
ahead (While our relative income goes down), and to give generously 
(after complaining about paying $000s to "welfare cheats").  We tell them 
they will get married and live happily-ever-after (and then let them call 
their estranged daddy).

In other words, for most of the people in this culture, the WORST advice 
we could give is GOOD advice.

By the time they are 13, they will be mass-producing Windows-NT on their 
dad's CD-ROM Burner.  Just to belong and be "one of the gang".

Maybe that's better than using drugs.

> Brian Deacon
> Vidya Media Ventures, Inc.
> benway@vidya.com
>  
> 

	Rex Ballard
	Standard & Poor's/McGraw-Hill
	Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect
	the Management of the McGraw-Hill Companies.




From rballard@cnj.digex.net Fri Jul 14 00:02:45 1995
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