[citation][nom]dheadley[/nom]Your comment does not make sense for applications. Artist release free music to get you to come spend money at concerts. It has a payback in the long run. If a developer is having problems with people stealing their applications and they release a free application, what is the payback? Are you saying that down the road everyone will buy their next application due to the good karma of the free application and not steal it? I call BS on that. The problem is that almost anyone that makes any kind of argument that it is even remotely the developers fault are the same people that would say that if their stuff was better than people would use it. The truth is no matter how good you make it a large group of the people will say it still isn't worth it and steal it anyway. The simple fact is at heart those people are just thieves and that is their basic character.[/citation]
For some people this is true, but for the majority it's not. Yes, there will always be the hardcore pirates, but most are simply people who are mildly interested but don't think it's worth the money or aren't sure. These are people who, without piracy, would most likely never use the app because they don't think it's worth what the developer asks. When people make the arguement piracy is good for sales, these (the majority) are the people they're refering to. You don't make money off them, you wouldn't anyway, but you do get essentially free advertising. Is this enough to make up for the hardcore pirates? Is it the developers fault for asking too much or not adding enough? Those are questions that make things get hazy.