The guy who wanted to sell software had a good point: “If I can get a hit with the right software I can just sit back and collect annual support fees without having to do too much additional work. You guys doing consulting have to constantly work hard to make money.”

That was before the Internet became what it is today and piracy still referred to guys with eye patches on wooden ships.

Piracy needs to go away, and it will, as soon as everyone becomes a consultant. You may steal parts for your plumbing, but you can’t steal the time and skill it takes for a plumber to install or repair it.

None of the remedies for software or music piracy work very well. You either have to have these ridiculous decisions where the punishment exceeds the crime to “set an example” or you have to build a time-bomb or tracking mechanism into the product. That latter approach of course eliminates the freedom to develop your own software (or use Open Source software). The price for such controls is to stifle innovation and competition.

Most musicians fit nicely into the consultant mindset. They enjoy the performance aspect of their art and don’t have as their motivation the idea of sitting back and collecting royalties. This notion applies to music, software, popular fiction , science writing and histories, and of course, especially, the mainstream news media. Everyone’s motto in the future should be “What have I done for you lately.”