Own your tools vs get owned by them

[JohnParticipant 114]

Dear brothers,

i am at one of the lowest points in my life and realised something. Back in the college days most had to do what had to be done to survive. That included stealing software.

Right now i am broke and spent my money to buy my tools. It includes a used laptop, several software licenses and eBooks.

So i purged everything and started from scratch. It feels good to pay for my stuff and i am surprised to feel so much better.

Kind of a revelation was that i had so much stuff and only used so little. So i’d rather master and actually use a few tools instead of collecting s~~~. Furthermore, a lot of things are worth paying for in regard to what they offer you e.g. knowledge, wisdom or just plain entertainment.

Another big advantage is that nothing needs to be hidden and life is less complicated. For instance it’s easy now to cross a border and be prepared to get the laptop checked by the border patrol. There is no more fear of repercussions from software phoning home. Of course you can prevent this but it takes time to stay ahead and eats up the peace of mind.

This change was a longer process and the outcome is worth it for me. To sum it up, i am more productive now and feel better about myself. It’s like someone flipped a switch inside and i can’t go back. It might sound a little strange in your ears but i am not exactly at peace now but close. There is more time left to care about more important things.

What are your thoughts?

The best to you,
John

[RennieParticipant]

Yeah. I myself have been buying the stuff I enjoyed in years gone by like old games. The proper versions of things usually work better. No software cracks that have game breaking bugs in them. No having to surf dodgy sites to find said cracks/serials. No wondering if the cracks might have malware hidden in them.

I also find that when I buy something I have a greater appreciation for it.

John wrote:

For instance it’s easy now to cross a border and be prepared to get the laptop checked by the border patrol.

How often does that happen to you at foot border crossings like airports? I reckon the only reason I haven’t seen this is because I haven’t crossed a border on foot since 2001. Although I’m always mindful of the real possibility of them doing that when crossing any international border.

[JohnParticipant 114]

Rennie wrote:

I also find that when I buy something I have a greater appreciation for it.

This!

Personally i found myself to go more in depth with software for instance to make the most of it for my money. In short i explore more of the functions instead of just showing off this app for prestige.

[quote quote=289518]
How often does that happen to you at foot border crossings like airports?

Well, i catch your drift on this and you are right about this. I am in Europe and looking for job opportunities hence it is likely for me to cross a borders. If one is already established then it’s not a big deal i guess.

The idea behind this is to not worry about this s~~~ and free your mind from it. To just be free and use your computer – in a nutshell, to be productive and create stuff instead of have to worry about the tail end of cracked software.

[RennieParticipant]

John wrote:

Personally i found myself to go more in depth with software for instance to make the most of it for my money. In short i explore more of the functions instead of just showing off this app for prestige.

It’s like with the MiG-21 simulator. If I had gotten it for free, I probably wouldn’t have spent the time learning to fly it. But since I paid $35 for it, I feel the need to make it worth my while and it has indeed been.

When you stick to paying for stuff, you limit the amount of stuff you have and can thus focus on enjoying what you have.

[Anonymous 54]

I only want what i can earn with these two hands.There is Honor in honesty,pride in hard work. Joy in integredy. Pride in standing up strait in truth.

[DorkShitParticipant 4353]

Integrity my brother. A top virtue for that reason. Hard to keep, easy to loose. Guard it well.

Peace brothers

[JohnParticipant 114]

Rennie wrote:

When you stick to paying for stuff, you limit the amount of stuff you have and can thus focus on enjoying what you have.

Exactly. It reminds me of the idiom creativity loves boundaries. This might be a benefit down the road to know one’s tools well.

I call this the productive mgtow.

An honest hard working guy.

No looking over your shoulder. Then you really are free.

Your resume is your transporter taking you to new lands and a new life.

Forgive me No, but i have a hard time not to call you Stealthy. At first i was kind of sceptical about your constantly sent message about how to get productive and why it is so important. It took some time to really grasp its core and realise how wise it is. The repetition helped a lot to finally reach me. Please keep it up. Awesome job! Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:

I only want what i can earn with these two hands.There is Honor in honesty,pride in hard work. Joy in integredy. Pride in standing up strait in truth.

This is pretty noble and the sound of it is beautiful in itself.

Well, i guess my aim was just a little lower when i was trying to sort my little world. The older i get the more i realise that there is a certain way i want to live my life. Poverty let me discover my own character and i strive to become the man i always wanted to be. It showed also that there is sometimes a clear right and another path i don’t want to follow. Hope that makes any sense.

DorkShit wrote:

Integrity my brother. A top virtue for that reason.

That is absolutely true! I have to admit as stated earlier that i didn’t had this in mind when i made my decision. It just felt right and it was about time to be done.

[DarkRyuParticipant 2354]

I still pirate software, but only to try it. When I like it, I uninstall the cracked copy and buy a license and activate it properly. That is, unless the software has a 100% functional 30 day trial or something. Unfortunately more and more software companies are crippling their trials and making it impossible to see if I really want to buy it or not.

Just guessing here, but I would say I’ve probably pirated about 200 pieces of software and bought about 40 out of the 200. That means that only 20% of the software I try is worth buying. Pretty sad when you think about it. That’s why I don’t just buy software. There’s an 80% chance it’s going to be s~~~.

[JohnParticipant 114]

Yep, i can see that. It is true and there is a lot of s~~~ty business things going on. For instance in gaming, if you pre-order games chances are good that the paying customer will be the alpha tester.

Another f~~~ed up thing is the spread of subscription models. Just think of Adobe and their Photoshop. Basically it is marketing by drug dealer, once you stop paying you cannot work with you own files. F~~~ that!

[Author]

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