Applicability of copying restrictions

The copying restrictions is the issue between the user and the producer. It is the free choise of a consumer these days whether or not he ties himself to some software producer because there are usually open source and free options available for any kind of software today. You can either use Microsoft Windows products or Mac and you can use either Microsoft Excel or Openoffice products.

The issue of copying restrictions is not therefore as critical as it used to be several years ago when internet was not around and the internet communities did not create open source software in such manner as they do it today.

The copying restrictions are not technically applicable in most cases today as cracked software is easy to make and use. It is more like an ethical issue - if you do not like that the product is licensed - then go and use some other companies open source software- however - if you like the capacity and features of the lienced product - then you need to allow to the terms attached to it.

The example of trust comes to mind when it was announced that Estonia´s biggest accounting software maker HansaRaama required from its clients the renewal of the software with the corresponding 2000 USD fee, otherwise they threatened to switch off the old versions ompletely. As scandal was coming to emerge they also played with reducing the prices ( initial 2000 USD changed to 500 USD in case of some clients who complained actively ). On the other hand the software maker warned their clients beforehand and on time that they do not intend use the old versions of their accounting software soon and therefore legally everything was correct from their part.

And it is difficult to imagine using open source software for accounting purposes these days - commercial versions are better and more suitable and they are updated often and the software is too country-specific and law-specific. Also it is easy to detect which accounting software is used for the companys balance sheet. You just need to choose the software product that can be trusted and the software producer who cares about you at the end of the day.