i used to play around with all of the cracked and stolen software. at the end of the day though, its not worth it. instead of being beholden to the software company, you're beholden to the hackers/crackers/packagers. do you think their intentions are any more 'noble' than the software companies trying to make a buck?
just my $.02. i found that theres an open source alternative to almost everything. a lot of the time, the open source version can be even better.
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I also prefer free software whenever possible, but sometimes there isn't really a choice. For instance, Sandboxie has no free alternative that I know of; VirtualBox isn't nearly as good as VMware for my needs; VNC is so much slower than Radmin under the same network conditions. Photoshop is another common example of proprietary software that 1. has no libre or even commercial alternatives that are on par with it, and 2. is extremely expensive, making cracks the only way for hobbyists and amateurs that can't afford a license.
Sometimes it's just a matter of habit, though. In my case, Total Commander and Winamp have very good free software alternatives, but I've been using them for over a decade and don't want to relearn file management or media playback just because Stallman would approve
"I just remembered something that happened a long time ago."
If you must rely on the software to make a living, by all means pay for it.
Otherwise with many software (except Adobe), the prices have definitely come down and make them more affordable.
Not into getting hack.
Poster
I have tried a lot of cracked software since 1996. Never had any problems. Don't play around with it much these days. Maybe things have changed today.
Depends... keygens? Fire them up in a throwaway VM to see if they're the real deal.
I stopped playing in the cracks/hacks pool, probably 5 or 6 years ago. I agree that a lot of the prices are lower now.
agree... cracks seem to be a lot more hassle these days.
Poster
Except for Genuine Windows 7Originally Posted by niplips
The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money
Poster
I do agree that there are open source/free programs that are 'good enough' for use cases. I use LibreOffice instead of MS Office because my word processor/spreadsheet needs are mostly personal. For me there are some applications where only a commercial application will suffice - mostly audio and video production. I do pay for the programs I use on a regular basis but sometimes the demos don't give me enough time to properly evaluate and learn if the program will suit my needs. That's where cracks come in handy: Extended demos. If I like the program I'll end up buying it but if it's only something used occasionally then a single version usually suffices and I'm not chasing every single X.0.1.24 update.
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