. . . November 13, 2005 Show Notes continued Exporting Data from Address Books Even if you're using some ancient Address Book from 1995 (or even older) it's often fairly easy to export all of your precious data as a file that can be read and imported by newer software. Look for an item on the File menu called "Export" or "Export As". Usually, your address book program will let you export the file as either a comma delimited or tab delimited text file. These kinds of files really are just plain text, but each data record is separated from the others using either commas or tab spaces. When importing such a file into a new address book program, select the appropriate format and load the file.

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If there's no obvious export selection, check the File menu again for a "Save As" selection. Often, you'll find that you can Save As a comma or tab delimited text file.

Palm Software Compabitility with the Treo 650

Most Palm OS software developed over the past four years or so will work just fine on the Treo. A lot of it won't take advantage of the Treo's built-in connectivity and communications power, but almost all software written to be compatible with Palm OS 3.x or later will work. Looking for Treo-specific software? Try the the Treo 650 Top Ten page and the Palm source site.

Trading Card Software Projects

'Borrowing' Office Software

Cute but illegal. There aren't any commercial software licenses which permit the use of registered software to be used by anyone other than the registrant. Additional rules to accommodate a second personal computer, laptop use, site licenses for company-wide use, and other niceties are described quite clearly in almost all product license texts. The key is to understand the nature of site licensing too, because even if your boss says you can grab a copy of Photoshop CS2 to use when you're working at home, he is certainly violating the Adobe license agreement. Like it or not, one of you has to purchase another license for use at your house.

Most software makers simply don't have the resources or the will to pursue individual thefts. But those same companies will definitely pursue, charge and prosecute anyone caught making multiple copies for resale. Recently, a software maker noticed an unusual number of online registrations coming in for a single serial number. It only took the company five days to track down the source of the piracy. You guessed it—an employee of a firm using the software under a proper site license had copied the original CD and site license key and was selling cut-rate copies to all sorts of people locally. The employee had even taken the time to make nice labels for each CD and was using a small shrink wrapping machine to help enhance the 'legitimate' look of each sale. The employee also kept written records of all his local CD sales, which led to misdemeanor charges against several dozen of his customers. The fines were small, the software maker deactivated the license key, and everybody concerned was thoroughly humiliated. The software maker issued a replacement key to the original customer. QED.

From a distance, software makers can't tell if you're just using something in an arguably legitimate way for work-at-home purposes, or if you're collecting pirated or stolen copies of original CDs and registration codes as the basis of an illegal reselling business. The more money software makers have to spend on catching thieves, the less money they'll have for better product development. Make no mistake about it either, if enough theft of a particular product takes place, even a smaller maker has to act to protect the product.

A thief is a thief. Taking something which is easily stolen never equates to legitimate possession. Talk yourself into justification if you will, but it's not right. Let legitimate software makers make money in return for their efforts. You demand such remuneration for yourself, so why are you arrogant enough to deny it to someone else? You don't have a god-given right to possess a copy of Microsoft Office 2003. Too expensive for you? But a copy of WordPerfect Office 12 instead? Still too much for your budget? Buy StarOffice or ThinkFree Office. Still can't afford it? Download OpenOffice for free.

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