G guesses correctly:
I think it’s now safe to assume that Vox is using a cracked version of 3D Max.
And the reasons are several, most of them federal. Actually, it really boils down to one reason: Autodesk is the most reliably hateful company in the world. I own seven legitimate copies of 3DS Max, plus seven legitimate upgrades. Older versions, but completely functional and our software worked well with it, along with a slightly newer version (3) that had a feature we needed to use.
When I wanted to upgrade to a newer version, I was informed that our versions were now worthless, and that I would have to purchase brand new copies of the latest version, as if I had not paid full retail on the original seven copies and upgrades. Furthermore, I could not purchase version 3 either as it was no longer available. This left me with three options:
a) Do nothing and remain inoperative.
b) Pay lots of money for new versions of software I already own, knowing that they will not work and thereby remaining inoperative.
c) Get a cracked version of 3 and keep trucking.
Needless to say, we went with option 3. No-IP 1, Pro-IP 0 on the innovation front. We’ve since updated our software and are using a newer cracked version, (which they won’t let us buy either, since it’s not the latest), for the very good reason that the latest version broke a feature that we require. No-IP 2, Pro-IP 0. If we were to respect IP law, we’d have been dead in the water twice now. So much for the pro-IP innovation argument.
I’d be interested to know how this could be considered theft, by the way, as in addition to the obvious challenge to demonstrate physical loss, I am using a product that the copyright holder has informed me no longer exists and has no value whatsoever. By the way, I should mention that I am not attempting to justify anything here, as I would cheerfully burn down Autodesk headquarters with every Autodesk employee in it. Autodesk is the very last company with whose IP rights I am concerned, as I once worked for the company from whom they blatantly ripped off Autodesk’s pre-Windows iconic interfaces.
(Big Chilly was point man on the project, Autodesk was “working closely with him” to implement the interface in an important licensing deal for about a year, then suddenly turned around and claimed that they had been working on an independent design all along, killed the deal, and introduced exactly the same thing in their next version of AutoCAD. This was back when I had a conventional understanding of IP rights, so it infuriated me. To this day, they’re the only company I actually hate, as I still have some regard for certain people at Microsoft as well as their game strategy.)
Piracy made legal would put an end to the wealthy artist. It would revert back to the age of Mozart who spent his life running all over Europe kissing up to wealthy patrons (Electors, Emperors, Kings, Archbishops) in the hope of getting a commission for work.
The elimination of IP would mean that the only work of value would be that work which is kept private. It would be the end of pop music and the return of the choral symphony written in praise of, and for the unending glory of the Wealthy Elite Patron who paid for it because the composer certainly couldn’t make a dime trying to sell music elsewhere.
I daresay this could be construed as an anti-IP argument. Instead of catering to teenagers with disposable income, artists would be catering to a wealthy, educated and highly aesthetic elite with a genuine appreciation for art.
And we wonder why instead of Shakespeares and Mozarts, we are producing Jenkinses and Eminems.