Not a happy bunny

nsherin,
surely the only 2 people who can incriminate you are yourself and the person who you gave the software to. so if you both stay schtumm then you're free and clear (unless you made the exchange under a security camera or some such). next time just do the swap down the pub or something.

as i've said as i'm personally effected by piracy i'm not unbiased on this matter however have you seen the f.a.c.t. warnings they are plastering across movies now? prision time, equipment confiscation and an UNLIMITED fine are all applicable to copyright theft. this could be why employers are cracking down on this as businesses have already been sued for one employees law breaking by another employee. this may give precidence for a company suing an employer for an employees transgression. certainly if i was ceo of company 'x' i wouldn't want to be made the test case.
cheers


julian

 

get it deleted off his computer and all its associated files, and then deny it categorically is my advice.

If they pursue the disciplinary ask for the evidence they have to doubt your honesty, and point out that if they dont have any you consider this to be a breach of trust, and a breach of trust is a breach of contract. Get some legal advice around this, and you can scare them shitless with their lack of evidence in the disciplinary meeting.

Offence is the best defence in this type of situation in my view.

 

AT- Photoshop CS is a professional piece of software and the price reflects that. Home users aren't expected to pay that sort of money as you say, hence the existance of the much cheaper Photoshop Elements software which is bundled with many applicable imaging devices.

Also, your university is putting itself in a very bad position if it promotes piracy. Piracy was extremely heavily discouraged at my university, and they provided cheap/free legit software (for example, windows XP). They also strongly encouraged the use of open source software (which is perfectly legit of course).

 

Cheers for the support, guys. I realise what I did certainly wasn't legal, but it certainly sounds like this particular person is out to make a name for themselves.

Guys, I do realise Sid's suggestions are tongue-in-cheek. Tempting as it is, it wouldn't be too wise to follow them.

There is some re-organisation going on. Part of this is a review into IT and how it is provided and there is possibly a chance that departmental 'IT sections' will get swallowed up as part of corporate IT. I suspect this person is trying to prove a point/to feather their own nest.

 

I sort of agree with you but I still think that, with digital cameras becoming so prevalent now, that the pricing of Photoshop is way too high. It used to be a tool that only professionals used where that kind of price is justified but now no self-respecting amateur would use Elements - the only tool to use Photoshop. Adobe have to realise that the market has changed and the the full-on Photoshop is no longer just a professional tool and price it accordingly. I think £200-250 would be about right. At that level, I would have bought a copy. As it is, I have no shame in admitting my copy is pirated. In fact, it's the only bit of pirated software I own.

With the change in the market, Adobe would probably earn more money from PS if they lowered the price as many people (like me) who baulk at the £600 pricetag would be happy to pay something more reasonable.

Another beef I have with Adobe over the pricing of Photoshop is that it's much cheaper in the US than anywhere else. It's $649 in the US and you can download it. In the UK it'll cost you £605 - around $1000. For what? You can download the software for f**k's sake! It's not like they have any extra shipping costs or anything . Really annoys me, and another reason I've no qualms about having a pirated copy of PS.

Michael.

 

I think all universities need to do more to give away free software. Salford have done this with Microsoft, the .NET suite they are giving away must be worth about £1000, and its perfectly legal, I also got a free copy of J++ which is old now but perfectly legal.

The problem with multimedia is its very hard to just use open source software as Photoshop (the real thing, Elements is just too basic for any serius usage, and why pay £70 for elements when you can ge thte Gimp for free which is better?)

You have to use programs like Macromedia Director etc. I don't use stuff like Dreamweaver I use open source text editors instead and I make an effort to make sure my cheaper software is legal like my windows XP.

If I was running my own business then all my software would be legal as that is a totaly different thing, if businesses use pirated software then its just theft.

My university dosn't exactly encourage piracy but they have turned a blind eye to it as longs as it dosn't get on their machines. I admit they should be seen to discourage it.

 

An update, guys. A meeting with HR is set up for tomorrow afternoon, along with a member from the team. Thankfully, it's the manager and not the person who I suspect really stuck the knife in. Will see how it goes and will report back.

 

Michael - I don't disagree. PS is the only significant piece of software I have not obtained legally.

nsherin - good luck.

 

Well, after just over 3 weeks, the whole incident is over, thank goodness. It's been a bit stressful, to say the least. Not much came of it - turned out to just be a verbal warning, thankfully. Lesson learned.

 

If this snitchy lowlife can be pinned, find a way of stitching him/her up. Grasses at work make me sick. Been there got the t-shirt. Usually it's some sad old jobsworth who'd die if they didn't have the job, as they've no life outside.

As for copied software, no comment (nudge nudge). However, I always buy the OS - so I can moan when it blows up... If software was a fair price it'd be OK - how can you justify £130ish for XP when it's going to sell probably LITERALLY billions of copies?

 

I also managed to find out that the b-tch who was digging the dagger in was also the snitchy lowlife. She is also the same person who obtains pirate DVDs etc., so is just as bad.

The warning was really over the conduct - i.e. presenting the correct, legal and professional impression in the workplace, given the position I am in, having to ensure work is compliant license-wise, etc.