This argument is applicable to all digital things, but for some reason it is usually only applied to books. It seems that a lot of software being free would be much more beneficial than free access to Harry Potter. I wonder if that would be as popular or, if for one reason or another, people are okay with just having voluntarily free software being free.
> This argument is applicable to all digital things, but for some reason it is usually only applied to books. It seems that a lot of software being free would be much more beneficial than free access to Harry Potter.
The problem with distributing illegal copies of software is the (depending on the crack website possibly rather small) risk of malware/ransomware, and additionally the risk that the software contains phone-home functionality to detect illegal copies (BTW: my personal opinion is that one should avoid software with such phone-home functionality (even if you obtain your copy legally) like the plague if possible).
These are, I think, plausible reasons why the software scene is more biased toward FOSS.
