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“Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.”

Nobody has a problem with companies that make money by offering a solid product that people buy. The anger comes from companies gaining money by other means. Any of these might qualify:

  - Selling my data.
  - Buying out the competition and letting the products die.
  - employing manipulative tricks to get extra money from people (especially children).
I’m sure there are many more examples. HN readers don’t hate success, they hate success at any cost.


Exactly. A lot of us have no problem with making money by delivering value on straightforward terms. It's the underhanded shit that receives richly-deserved scorn.

Autodesk: "Oh no no no, you didn't BUY this software CD in a shrink-wrapped box. You just rented a 'perpetual license' and how dare you attempt to recoup that if you end up not using it."

And Autodesk managed to finagle a ruling that utterly tramples a consumer's right under the Doctrine of First Sale:

"The first sale doctrine, codified at 17 U.S.C. § 109, provides that an individual who knowingly purchases a copy of a copyrighted work from the copyright holder receives the right to sell, display or otherwise dispose of that particular copy, notwithstanding the interests of the copyright owner."

But somehow Autodesk is exempt from this. WTF.




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