News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Inventor stumped by 43-year patent delay by DanBC on Sunday March 02, 2014 @03:23PM (#7330606)
> Games released via Steam have shown evidence that when a singleplayer game is unavailable as a torrent for free, then people will pay for it. The counterargument to this is that most people who torrent wouldn't pay for it anyway. But I assert that there is a third class of people: those who first check to see if it's available for free, and if not, pay for it.

What about the fourth classification of people who search for a way to buy something and who torrent it when it's not available?

Don't forget the weird restrictions placed on regional DVDs by the industry, and the laws that prevent me from converting my player to a multiregion device.

Re:Inventor stumped by 43-year patent delay by lostlogin on Sunday March 02, 2014 @05:42PM (#7331089)
I'll add a 5th class. Those who pay, can't use the crap they get for some reason, so torrent a functional version. I fit this category often. Got out a Sopranos series. DVDs wouldn't play over airplay for some DRM reason, and torrenting was quicker than ripping. Another time it was getting a Windows install onto a MacBook Air was so painful that a torrent was easier than some horrid workaround that involved a 4 hour drive to get a disc and a disc drive as no legal method of getting a download was available (from memory it was Widows 7 about a year and a half ago, but have struck the issue of having no legal download available with legacy Widows versions at other times too).