What is software worth, eh?

A discussion rages (in many forums, at this moment in my hotel room) about What Software Is Worth and What You Are Paying For When You Buy It.

There are many philosophical arguments (going on in this hotel room, even) but I am going to give my opinion as a consumer here.

To me, as a person who buys software, I see it this way: I am paying someone to get software. Sometimes I pay the person who made the software. Sometimes I pay someone who happens to be publishing the software.

Once I pay someone to get the software, I should be able to do what I want with it. I am willing to pay for support of that software and other services (online play, ahoy).

A software producer may think they are selling me a license to use their software (on N number of computers, perhaps), but whenever they try to enforce that, I generally find myself inconvenienced.

If I find that the cost that the publisher/producer expects me to pay for the software is more then I am willing to pay, I will generally disregard what they want and get the software from someone else (or use the original software in a manner that the producer/publisher considers illegal).

This may include using one license on more computers then they expected. Or downloading their software using bittorrent.