Steve Ballmer

Or phrased another way, it's we will give you $180,000 for you to hand over exclusive rights to all that cool basic stuff you just wrote to us. But if we sell fewer than X machines, we're actually going to pay it out to you on a prorated basis at $30 a pop rather than giving you the full $180,000.

Right. Kind of a great deal for them too, given the position they're in.

Right. Kind of a great deal for them too, given the position they're in.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Thank God Bill's dad is a lawyer. Indeed. Indeed.

Thank God Bill's dad is a lawyer. Indeed. Indeed.

Not a high-growth company.

Not a high-growth company.

And this is a pretty interesting time to pause and say, well, are they pirating software?

And this is a pretty interesting time to pause and say, well, are they pirating software?

This is 1975. So piracy implies that you are running afoul of some particular legal protection for the good. And you might say, well, with today's legal frameworks and hindsight, you would say, of course, if they're copying the software and not paying the money for it, it's piracy. That was actually not established yet. And this is the craziest thing.

This is 1975. So piracy implies that you are running afoul of some particular legal protection for the good. And you might say, well, with today's legal frameworks and hindsight, you would say, of course, if they're copying the software and not paying the money for it, it's piracy. That was actually not established yet. And this is the craziest thing.

So Bill basically has an opinion that it's piracy, and he writes letters to the computer community.

So Bill basically has an opinion that it's piracy, and he writes letters to the computer community.

Yes. And tries to basically guilt trip people. He tries to use that as a recruiting method and say, if you're so excited about pirating our software, maybe you should just come work with us. And nothing would make me happier than making the best software in the world. And please join us on this mission.

Yes. And tries to basically guilt trip people. He tries to use that as a recruiting method and say, if you're so excited about pirating our software, maybe you should just come work with us. And nothing would make me happier than making the best software in the world. And please join us on this mission.

But ultimately, the legal standing that he has to say, hey, what you're doing is illegal is not fully established. And so it would actually take a couple of years for the courts to look at software and say, What about this is protectable? And if you think about it, it is a little bit weird. So you've got source code that looks kind of like English, you know, basic, it's letters and numbers.

But ultimately, the legal standing that he has to say, hey, what you're doing is illegal is not fully established. And so it would actually take a couple of years for the courts to look at software and say, What about this is protectable? And if you think about it, it is a little bit weird. So you've got source code that looks kind of like English, you know, basic, it's letters and numbers.

It gets translated to machine code. That machine code ends up running and it's basically electrons. It's voltages that are flipped up and down. And so what about that are we trying to protect? Ultimately, the way it gets litigated through some case law from court cases is that the source code is a copyrightable creative work that is expressed through some sort of tangible medium.