In the past, most software I used was paid and proprietary and would have some sort of limitation that I would try to get around by any means possible. Sometimes that would be resetting the clock on my computer, disabling the internet, and other times downloading a patch.
But in the past few years I’ve stopped using those things and have focused only on free and open source software (FOSS) to fulfill my needs. I hardly have to worry about privacy problems or trying to lock down a program that calls home. I might be missing out on some things that commercial software delivers, but I’m hardly aware of what they are anymore. It seems like the trend is for commercial software providers to migrate toward online or service models that have the company doing all the computing. I’m opposed to that, since they can take away your service at any time.
What do you do?
I haven’t pirated software in probably 10 years? I think I used to pirate Internet Download Manager back in the slow internet days. Now, I all the applications I use are free. Now when it comes to games, I always buy on Steam. Had my steam account since the Orange Box launch, it’s just to convenient. Steam sales are always priced pretty good which has given me a library of nearly a 1000 games. Don’t ask me how many I played… Gabe was 100% correct in my eyes that piracy is a service problem.