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Pirates vs Ninjas

2008-05-09 09:29

So today, Stefan was helping someone that posted a cry for help on our forums.

In digging a bit further, he discovered that this guy was actively working against us, as you can see by searching for bonkeykong on this pirate site.

So this is like stealing a car from me, then giving the garage door opener in the car to a buddy so the buddy can go to my garage and steal my other car. Then, after he's driven around a bit, he calls me up and asks where to find the gas cap. If I had that much gall, I'd be a much richer man.

It's also terribly amusing that the poster doesn't realize that we essentially give away our work for free, and that there is a straight forward way to get this for free, that has forums where people will help him, and where his willingness to help will in turn be entirely a force for good.

Further, if he wanted to go with CrossOver, we have a free trial, and we offer a money back guarantee (which, if you're a clever Pirate, is a perfect way to get a free copy and annoy us at the same time). Heck, you can sign up to be an Advocate and totally p0wn us!

But no, bonkeykong decided car jacking was his thing.

It hurts a little; people like this seem to assume we're a nameless faceless and therefore somehow 'evil' corporation. We're not. We're people; hard working, overly idealistic, often underpaid people.

Of course, I'm not a stooge for the RIAA. Digital technology changes things; making a copy of a bag of bits is not the same as knocking me over and taking my wallet. bonkeykong isn't going to roast in a circle of hell because of this, although maybe he'll be darned to heck if we're lucky  .

And I am adamant that I only want people's money if they are cheerful to give it to us.

But I think it's positive proof that Pirates aren't very bright, so this counts as a point for the Ninjas!

Cheers,

Jeremy

Slashdot It! Comments(10 Comments)

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

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bonkeykong


no subject   (Score: 3)
Date: 2008-05-09 14:04     edited by bonkeykong on 2008-05-09 15:59
My dad bought CrossOver for my little brother's birthday so he could play Team Fortress on his MacBook. I was trying to install it for him as a surprise, so I tried to get help on the internet by posting at various forums. I would still appreciate any help installing it as it doesn't seem to work.

This is like purchasing a car, giving it to a new driver, teaching them how to drive it-except the car won't start. Then when the car owner goes to get it jump started from a friendly neighbor, the car dealership owner accuses the customer of stealing the car because he doesn't like the neighbor.

 


Marcus O'Dell


re:   (Score: 3)
Date: 2008-05-09 18:51    
Hmmm, posting on pirating websites.  Who visits those?  Oh yes, Pirates.

 


Jeremy White


Staff Member

re:   (Score: 3)
Date: 2008-05-09 19:19    
  

Actually, we get a fairly steady stream of emails from folks horrified to discover that CrossOver is available at various warez sites.  So it's something we're constantly made aware of.  It bothers some of us more than others. I'm in the not very bothered camp; I know it's something I can't successfully fight, and the irony of a Free Software company fussing about piracy is not lost on me.  I think our job is to continue to improve Wine and to continue to make a good case for folks to contribute to our efforts.

But this particular case just seemed a too juicy to pass up, and I was looking for something to write about anyway...

Cheers,

Jeremy

 


Kevin J. McVitty


no subject   (Score: 3)
Date: 2008-05-09 21:04    
Jeremy, I think you judged this guy a little too quickly. Given the large volume of emails on the subject of piracy you receive, I can understand why you're prone to jump so fast on a guy for trying to get help from a piracy site. And, bonkeykong, I can see why you might call for help from fellow nerds to get a program working, whether it be on the official site or a piracy one. I hope you get it working!

 


cornbread


Darwin Awards   (Score: 3)
Date: 2008-05-09 21:29    
Looks like that belongs in the wine darwin awards.

I did want to suggest if you are looking for things to post on. Maybe take one popular app a week and talk about where it is and where you see it going in x time frame. For example: Itunes currently works but has a couple flaws blah blah and still needs a fix for syncing an ipod and codeweavers expects these bugs to be pretty tricky because blah blah blah.  

I would like to see those blah's filled in with some cool updates. Or here's where we are on CS3 and what the big clincher bug is and so on so forth...  

To me any progress updates no matter how small are a good boost and place to point to for people that I'm in the process of converting from windows. ;)

 


Marcus O'Dell


re:   (Score: 3)
Date: 2008-05-09 23:18    
Well you have my support (and $).  Keep up the great work!

 


Tom Wickline


re:   (Score: 3)
Date: 2008-05-10 04:55    
bonkeykong Posted:
the car dealership owner accuses the customer of stealing the car because he doesn't like the neighbor.


If you would have went to the support system, the C4 compat forums, or the mailing list and ask for help.. and not received help, then I might have bought this...
You see this site is FULL of help forums and there is a active mailing list. So even if your not a thief you surly made yourself look like one. :)

Just my $.02

Tom

 


Ryan Martinez


You're not selling Wine, you're selling your expertise   (Score: 3)
Date: 2008-05-19 16:47     edited by Ryan Martinez on 2008-05-19 16:50
Since Wine is already free and you eventually offer your modifications for free anyway I guess the best way to see this is like a construction job. Sure a future home owner (user) can go get all the materials for a house (Wine) and build it all by his lonesome, but future home owners (Linux [Windows game] gamers) hire people, construction companies (Codeweavers), to do that for them for a reason, they just want to have a house to live in (CrossOver). You do the heavy lifting to tweak Wine for those of us too impatient or inexperienced to do it themselves and you offer it in a neat and user friendly package I can do no less but to praise. Thanks for this. Many other dyed in the wool Linux programmers wouldn't even think to do this because it's beneath them. "Configure Wine like the rest of us!" I think the term "RTFM" is taken tooooooooooo far sometimes for inappropriate things.

I bought CrossOver Games the minute I found out I could play City of Heroes with the only problem being is that the mouse pointer is just a black square. "If that's all, then I'm in" was my thinking.

 


ikir


Support   (Score: 3)
Date: 2008-05-20 08:00    
You have my support too!!

 


Mathieu Jobin


what can we do ...   (Score: 3)
Date: 2008-07-01 19:46    
other people goes the other way around.  
I did not know about the advocate program.
I went to buy your products which I was very excited about before I buy it (5.0)
then I wanted to submit comments and reports, as I am use to do with free software
so I became an advocate, which gave me a free upgrade to pro.
did some testing but I did not have much success with any of the app I wanted to run.

time has past, there isn't so many windows application I need anymore. but maybe one day...
so I keep up with your news...

 


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