I see, and how exactly do you do that? Have you heard of anyone who sent a check to an artist or band that they pirated music from, ever? Didn't think so. It sounds all nice an cozy to say "I'm not giving to the big conglomerates, but right to the artists", but it's quite another thing to actually do it. Some bands when they're small maybe you can do that with, by buying right from their site, or at an event they do a cover for. But any group that's semi-popular, you can't get to directly. Even their concerts have middle-men and vendors.

So, you don't want to give "Microsoft", the big company, money for their office suite. It's too expensive. Tell me, when you pirate it, how are you giving back to the engineers that get paid to code the program? When you pirate Photoshop, how are you supporting the secretary that arranges the lunch and learn sessions the engineers are going to, to learn new skills and get ideas for new tools? You're not.

Software at least has the advantage that it doesn't always get sucked in. Mom and pop shops can make it pretty big and still stay pretty small. But I'm willing to bet most people that have pirated versions of software have never paid for it, even if it's a small mom & pop that made it.

I bet you'd agree numbers can be stolen if the numbers were coming out of your bank account. You don't mind if I take those numbers, right? They're just numbers... They can't be stolen.

Are you ok with someone using your car for a long trip when you're not using it, as long as they provide gas? In the example I gave, you don't own the machine. You're just using it. You're not paying for the initial investment, nor are you paying to help maintain the machine. That's what's being stolen.

And tell me, how exactly are you "providing materials" when you take someone's program (without paying for it) and run it? Again, we're not talking about people writing their own driver after seeing a youttube demo of this one. They're using the exact code, not their own version.

Oh, trust me... I wouldn't be calling you in any case. I know how to read. It's you that has issues reading (and with logic, apparently). But then I'm not living in my parents basement still, or gorging myself on hohos. So there's more things we don't have in common...