Dave Winer and Evan Williams commented that the people who shout the loudest are often the ones who have no basis for their anger. I'm reminded of this fact by an email I received this morning. Here's a quote:
“Fix your piece of s— program! I upgraded to FeedDemon 1.10 and it crashes with 'Win32 device error.' Did you even test this s—?”
I've actually received a number of emails (and one forum post) about this bug, but I have no plans to fix it. Why? Because the error message only appears if you upgrade a cracked version of FeedDemon 1.0. This is a deliberate error message that FeedDemon 1.10 displays when it detects that you upgraded from a specific cracked version of FeedDemon 1.0.
That's right, people who use a pirated version of FeedDemon are emailing me for support. It never ceases to amaze me when people not only steal from me, but also expect me to spend my time answering their questions. And more often than not, the email I've received about this problem reads like something a drunk teenager would write.
I've written about piracy before and I'm not planning to start another lengthy rant. But I do have a request for those who have justified their use of cracked versions of my work: don't ask for support. I support my family with sales of my software, and my life is affected – dramatically – by the existence of cracks. Please, if you're using a pirated version of my software, don't expect me to help you. [Nick Bradbury]