Good call, Scotty! And these emoticons should be banned in posts about acquiring software:
.
(no not that last one, that's mine
)
The way I look at it is that if you don't think a piece of software is worth its asking price, you do not need to use it. There are excellent free alternatives available for just about every application you can think of. But getting the one that is right for you does require a bit of research, trial and error, and maybe a bit more time reading installation instructions. So for me the choices are spending the big bucks or making the effort to find a free alternative. If it's too expensive, don't use it! This sends a strong message to the software company selling the product. Consider this quote from the man who knows how these things work:
"Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but people don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."
--- Bill Gates, 1999