Type 3: Hacker logics + Hacking for necessity
The burgeoning software market can be understood as a realization of the early hacker dream, to have computers for everyone. Commercialization attracted new computer users who were interested in pre-packaged software that required little or no programming skills. This new market was a gold rush, and skilled programers made fortunes in the early years, sometimes regardless of the software's quality. This brought a new challenge to the Hacker Ethic. If a product contained errors that users could identify and correct, they felt it was within their rights to fix a faulty product. Conversely, if a product performed well, but was encrypted with security, some felt it a valid challenge to break this security code.
As the commercial software market developed, the logics of codebreaking began to evolve incorporating new views about when and under what circumstances codebreaking was appropriate. As software manufacturers levied high-stakes claims against pirates, such as that Ken Williams of On-line Systems, "the most adverse effect of piracy is not so much the higher price of software as it is the lower quality of programs. . .if their programs are pirated, , companies like On-line Systems and Personal Software will no longer be able to spend months and dollars perfecting and protecting their products [and] the industry will revert to the weekend programmer who operates out of his garage and come out with more pong-type games" [1]
As the commercial software market developed, the logics of codebreaking began to evolve incorporating new views about when and under what circumstances codebreaking was appropriate. As software manufacturers levied high-stakes claims against pirates, such as that Ken Williams of On-line Systems, "the most adverse effect of piracy is not so much the higher price of software as it is the lower quality of programs. . .if their programs are pirated, , companies like On-line Systems and Personal Software will no longer be able to spend months and dollars perfecting and protecting their products [and] the industry will revert to the weekend programmer who operates out of his garage and come out with more pong-type games" [1]
read softalk letters about the logics of hacking
Softalk letters-to-the-editor are historic artifacts, and offer glimpses into early computing culture. The letters are from readers who offer justifications for hacking and discuss the evolving hacker culture. These letters appear in Softalk's "Open Discussion" section from 1980 to 1984.
References
[1] Yuen, Matthew. October 1980. "Pirate, Thief: Who Dares to Catch Him?" Softalk Magazine, Volume 1, Number 2.
[1] Yuen, Matthew. October 1980. "Pirate, Thief: Who Dares to Catch Him?" Softalk Magazine, Volume 1, Number 2.