>>What Chen did is in violation of the EULA he agreed to when receiving the software. It is a personal moral decision to violate those terms wilfully, no matter what the law states or allows you to do. As I've stated elsewhere in this thread, it's legal to get an abortion in the U.S. That does not make it a moral decision, or the right thing to do. It is the same here, though no loss of life is involved, merely the same principles applied to another aspect of our life and living.
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>If you had only said that, I would not have brought it up. But correct me if I am wrong, but the first thing you said was that it was illegal what he was doing.

The first thing I said was a question asking him if it was legal:
https://www.levelextreme.com/Home/ViewPage?Activator=1021&ID=1662845

After I had a chance to think about it, and read some more, and consider things, then I began to realize it is illegal.

> Now suddenly you say it does not matter if it was legal or not, but you uphold the terms as above the law. It is your right to do so, but at first you did say it was illegal.

That's what I'm saying ... but there's more than one aspect you're bringing together here. I have stated elsewhere in this thread that it may be legal for Chen to do what he's doing in China, as the laws in China may not acknowledge Microsoft's EULA claims summarily. However, for those in the U.S. it is illegal for us to receive and use his work, just as it would be illegal for us to do the work he's doing here.

If you'll recall, I compared this to going to another country where drugs were legal. You could consume the drugs there, but if you tried to ship some drugs to your house in the U.S., even though it's legal to ship the drugs in the country you're in, it still is illegal to cross borders to the U.S. with that product, you would be breaking U.S. law in order to receive those drugs here because they're illegal here.

>My point was it was not proven to be illegal and therefore falls under the category of libel. You can get sued for that.

It is illegal. It's cut and dry for U.S. citizens. It would be a matter settled in court because Microsoft has valid grounds for upholding and defending their rights to their work. The courts have ruled about 50/50 on the validity of EULAs and it seems to depend on whether or not you have to click through it or not. So it's not a guarantee that you would get a liberal court and have it thrown out. But regardless, it is illegal and it would result in a court case if Microsoft chose to pursue the issue.

I doubt they will. Microsoft's been fairly tolerant of EULA violators over the years. I assume it's because they're making so much money anyway and they realize that some people doing illegal things is just the cost of doing business, something they have to tolerate to reach the larger audience of law abiding people.

My second statement is that when we individually agree to something, we should stand by our word. It's been said, "Let your yes be yes, and your no no." It should be as simple as that. I remember a line from the TV show Northern Exposure, where Maurice's character said something to the effect of a man's word should mean something. A rock solid handshake and an agreement between two men should be as good as a signed contract. I agree with that. When a person states they will do something, they should strive greatly to achieve it. And before taking on something, they should consider long and hard if they are truly up to the task.

It comes back to the pause, take a step back, consider the bigger picture of the choices involved, don't be impulsive, don't let your coveting desires drive your choices, but let your passion and impulses be governed by reason and advice from others, from things that involve a consideration of years of movement for us, our children, our neighbors, our society, etc.

We must have bigger eyes, looking at bigger things, considering the larger issues, and move toward them and stop being impulsive and able to be led by the shiny trinket of some coveted desire that's right before us.

FWIW, this is why I began working on Visual FreePro. I did not want Microsoft's leash around my neck, so I began to create a free software program to replace it. You can listen to me discuss this from a recording I made in 2012. It begins about 35 minutes into the video and continues to the end (links to an OGV file):
https://tinyurl.com/mfn8jer

If you can't view the video, use VLC (http://www.videolan.org).