Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
>
> People should be more honest. Don't invent excuses. If you want to use
> the software completely ignoring the owner's wishes, then be a man and
> just say so. "I don't care what they say. I'm going to download and use
> their software because I want to. I don't care if it's illegal or immoral."
>

I thought I did ;-)

No, I'm not making lite of the moral/ethical question. Perhaps it's hard to
believe, but I actually *did* give a fair amount of thought to it.

Most of us have a built-in 'filter' for deciding such issues, developed over
time and from personal experience, and the final analysis of a situation is
usually clear-cut, because the initial set of circumstances is clear-cut. It's a
personal filter, of course. What might seem unambiguous to one person may not be
so to another. This Adobe thing looks, smells and tastes ambiguous (to me.)
That's not making up 'excuses' (for engaging in bad behavior, as you imply),
it's actually the way I feel about it. Am I 'right' or 'wrong' to download the
software? I don't think it's so clear-cut, in this situation. Adobe has made it
ambiguous.

This particular moral/ethical question (I don't know if I would call it a
dilemma in this case) would probably make a good 'case example' in a college
course on ethics. I would bet that the class would be evenly divided as to
opinions.

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