File Sharing Rant?

Although I agree with you on the legality issue of downloading warez, I don't agree with your pompous and elite attitude.

There should be no reason a home user should not be allowed to buy and use a program such as Photoshop or Dreamweaver.

I don't think anywhere on the box it says "For Professionals Only".

You have a serious ego problem, and I think that's what is getting you upset.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery is it not?... I have a lot of " titles " on my glory wall too, pretty much every one that is ms related as well as Linux etc.. For me personally? I am OK with the fact that others have interests in these areas of learning even if it is at a different level of skill and or development. For my own ethical reasons, I can not agree with illegally obtaining aka *stealing anothers software.

It is good that people are trying to advance themselves and exercise their brains, I do however understand that "file sharing " is perhaps the only means for some to obtain and or learn. due mostly to financial hardship...Yet That does not make it right by any means.

I fully Agree with you re guarding the frustration, for example: I was a degreed systems analyst in the late 1960s , since then I have spent almost every day improving advancing and broadening my skills in every facet of computer sciences , theorum,design, and application. I do feel a bit discontent with those who" know it all" and just got their 1st home use type PC last week last year etc... or have a few weeks to a few years of classroom theory and are suddenly the best lol

all I can say is " from the mouth of babes "

What a terribly old fashioned thought. It amounts to Knowledge is power and it sounds like you are envious of those people who through their own efforts are able to do the things you do. I am a computer professional and spend quite a bit of time in here helping those who need it. I see lots of poor advice being given and it only takes a second to mark it as such and similarly to praise the excellent advise from others. By using your hard earned wisdom you can help make Answers a better place for all.

I would have to agree with you on the legality issues on those people who are downloading warez copies of Photoshop through limewire, etc. It would be upsetting to pay the 6-7 hundred dollars for a program that others are ripping off and using for free. However, most of those people, as you put it, play around with the thing by simply adding text, etc...and don't have to worry about the legal repercussion tied with creating professional work you intend to sell using pirated software. They are liable if caught using a warez or pirated bit of software, but how often is that going to happen, when all they do is make stuff they don't intend to sell, and can easily be replicated by many other free programs out there?

As to the time and money learning how to use it...I am friends with many people who have not bothered to take a course, who have purchased a program and by sheer dint of effort, taught themselves how to use it...and more so, to improvise and create new tricks and patterns and paintbrushes etc, and who share that knowledge with anyone willing to learn and put in the time.

There is no monopoly on learning...and it doesn't have to come from purchasing the program and paying the money to go to school. Most of the graphic arts people I know out there making good money in the field didn't go to school to learn photoshop and the other graphic programs. They went for networking or java or flash and taught themselves because they decided graphic design was what they wanted to do. If they make great art with it, I think that's all that mattters. The talent is there, I don't think they need the paper dragon of certifications. If someone has gone to school for photoshop or whatnot, and has gotten the certifications, then of course I respect that accomplishment....but if he is a godawful artist and can't produce artwork that say, someone who has self-taught does, then what is the point?

It used to be that that is what computing, and its associated work and artforms, used to be about....a bunch of enthusiasts taking the hardware apart, or trying to get the most out of a new program by using it in ways it was not intended, or to try anything to get access to a program they couldn't use to figure out whether it is worth having, learning, buying or improving.

I have an actual version of photoshop....the LE version. There are more tricks to it, of course, but I can generally do everything they do with the newer versions. It just takes me more steps and a lot more time. I got my version of photoshop for free, included in a mustek flatbed scanner. If they are throwing in photoshop for free, when some poor unprofessional schlub buys a flatbed, then I can hardly see what the problem is.

lmao

i never thought about it like that

im south african, moved to the uk a year ago, and i just got a comp about 7 months ago..

and adobe photoshop dreamweaver fireworks illustrator etc etc

were always free for me becuase cracks and the software are so available

and i never thought of using that software as a profession

like its not rocket science

im doing IT course at college

try gimp

its actually free, and its just as good as those expensive progs

Why should it bother anyone. If you are as clever as you think you are your skill should keep you ahead of the pack. If you are worried about a few 14 and 15 year olds putting you out of business, maybe you should look at re-training.