Having a recent conversation about software that I would pay for myself if my company didn't provide it for me I have a short list:

• Resharper

• VisualSVN

• NHProf

NHProf license is within reach, it's not oppressive in what it is charging.

The silly thing is this guy is probably a contractor billing $100 per hour.

Ayende, you sees the benefits of being an opensource lover. There will always be people like Oufti, but having one like acexman is, how to say, worth it.

Well, you've could have replied that you have a crack, but that it will cost him 140 dollars ;-)

I actually encountered this one myself, when I was looking for sites referencing NHProf. It's amazing how quickly google has picked it up, and the various blogs writing about it as well!

What IS scary is that the first page on google already returns a page looking for a crack. Although you could see that as a compliment as well of course ;-)

Honestly who never use a cracked version a keygen or something like that here ? If you say "not me" I won't believe you .... :)

I wouldn't worry about it anyway.

If they were going to crack it they'd not have bought it anyway so the net loss is zero. However...

...if it's got a keygen/crack, someone actually wants to try it, so it's possible that "home users" who don't want to foot the bill will use it at work and end up purchasing licenses anyway.

Win win.

Chris,

I just don't think that is very accurate. While IT departments for midsized and up companies have become very diligent at making sure they have purchased licenses for their software, there are plenty of smaller shops and independents contractors out there who don't.

That doesn't include all the developers who have been given admin rights to their machine and install whatever they wish at the mid to large sized companies I mentioned previously.

I imagine if there's a crack out there (which I assume there must be already), that at least some of them are being used for "production" code, not just home hobbiests trying it out.

I think a lot of these problems would be resolved if IT departments wouldn't be so cheap when providing developers with tools to do their job. They pay 100K+, give developers top notch machines with two monitors, pay for cerifications/addional training, but when they get asked for an additoinal $400 worth of software which will save a developer 100s of man hours, it's not uncommon to get told no.

It's silly, but its the way it is.

01: You haven't lost a penny, this guy wouldn't have bought it anyway.

02: The fact that it is worth cracking is a reflection of the fact that it is worth owning, and therefore worth buying (as long as the price is right)

So in a way, it's a compliment :-)

I don't like to pay for my software, but I don't use cracks. I always get my company to pay for software I feel will help me on a everyday basis.

I have bought one personal lisence in my lifetime, and that was for VisualSVN, but life is cruel, I managed to loose the lisence key.....so if I buy a new pc I have to buy a new one. But it's cheap enough to not disturb me.

I hope enough people buy your software, Ayende, to make your efforts worth while.

Benny

@Peter:

Piracy isn't only about loosing a penny or not. It's about someone using your work without accepting the conditions you made for it's use. That's just unfair. If someone uses GPL code in a closed-source commercial app without permission, the auther doesn't loose a penny either, but does that make it right?

@benny

pretty hipocritical to not like paying for software while liking being paid to write software IMO

Altho I hate NHibernate, and thus would never pay for NHProf, it's good to see the community sticking up for one-another.

Obviously there is some hope left in the world. Personally I love paying for software that I think is worth the money. The cost for the software I buy is generally very low. There is:

• Clear Context for Outlook

• Resharper

• Directory Opus

• a few more I cannot remember at the moment. The reason for buying it is because it allows me to be more productive, use less energy and time with silly things and instead put my time and energy in areas where it counts. I suppose NH Prof would be something that allows people to simply spend less time figuring out what is wrong and instead just fix what NH Prof tells them is wrong so if you are using NHibernate in a production environment I am pretty sure it would be a very good buy!

Hope it becomes a huge success for ya.