For context, I want to run a small personal gig (offering stuff on Patreon). Nothing too fancy.

In order to do that, I would need to use the Adobe suite, Windows, some audio and video effects, all requiring a commercial license.

In theory, I start to make money. How would Microsoft and Adobe know that I don’t pay for their software?

If I use some audio effects, how would their owners even be able to tell / find my work? We’re talking about basic sound effect, like rain, door knocks etc.

I’ve always been confused by this

  • Paranoid Factoid@beehaw.orgEnglish
    83·
    11 months ago

    I use the FOSS stuff to make money with. But if you’re going with Adobe for business, and I used the Adobe suite for over a decade and like it, then pay for it. Not out of some moral nonsense, because I don’t give a shit. But because creating deliverables with pirated software puts your business at serious risk. They don’t really care if you pirate to learn the suite, but once you start making money you pay or they’ll sue you into the ground.

    • SchizoDenji@lemm.eeEnglish
      61·
      11 months ago

      There are plenty of artists who use pirated software to create shit but haven’t got into trouble, the trick is to block the network requests and strip the Metadata.

      And MS/Adobe would not go for a small patreon artist because they know that if they go too far, people will be pushed towards their competitors, which they don’t want since their business model hinges on being the most widely used software and thus not allowing any competition to grow.

      • Paranoid Factoid@beehaw.orgEnglish
        93·
        11 months ago

        It’s in the deliverable and the fact that you’re making money with a pirated suite. It exposes you and your business to a lawsuit so expensive you’ll be run out of business for life. It’s like a business and financial death sentence.

        This isn’t a moral question. It’s one thing to pirate for personal use, quite another to build a business on pirated software. Especially when the consequences of getting caught are so severe.

        • SchizoDenji@lemm.eeEnglish
          4·
          11 months ago

          There is a theoretical possibility, but you have to be practical. Its upto an individual to decide.

          • Paranoid Factoid@beehaw.orgEnglish
            53·
            11 months ago

            Hey dude, it’s up to the individual. Sure. But know the consequences. These big companies can squash you and your business like a bug. You want that sword of damocles hanging over your financial head? That’s on you.

            One thing I notice, all the guys who do this for a living are warning OP about basing a business on pirated software (and assets). It’s only the piracy advocates who say otherwise.

            It’s not a moral question for me. Strictly practical.