This isn't just a Perl problem; there are several packages that I know of that different distros have problems with.

I think it's more the nature of F/OSS: anybody that can repackage things, will -- just like anyone that wants to, can cobble together their own distro.

I don't see the problem going away for Perl, or any other package -- or even for the various distributions. As long as there are True Believers in .deb vs .rpm vs. git, /usr vs /opt, Gnome vs KDE, and so on, I see it continuing to be a problem. Nobody wants to give up a little bit of their "freedom" to do-as-they-damn-well-please in order to establish some consistency and minimum standards so as to make life easier for mere users. I've previously suggested that the fragmentation of Linux (of which this particular situation is just an example) is what's REALLY keeping Linux off more desktops.

But, hey, what do I know? I'm just one of those folks that only wants to get actual productive work done, and remembers what it was like for me when I made the switch from Windows(tm) to Linux.

Considering the number of pirated copies of Windows reportedly in use in China, I think that's exactly what happened.

It's one of those cumulative cases though, I would assume (whether they are being excessively pernickety or not), that while working on 1 computer coved in tar residue is not so bad, working on 500 might be. Just like visiting a smoke-filled bar just once might not be, but working there every day is...

Say, here's an idea: if they're getting so many smoker-owned laptops that it's a bother (for whatever reason), how about setting up a "decontamination" station (charge extra for it, of course), then process as usual? I've done my fair share of commercial computer service, and alcohol does a fine job of removing 99+% of cigarette residue, won't damage the hardware like water or solvents could, and is fairly inexpensive.

Yeah, us smokers are used to the smell of it -- just like other folks are used to the stench of their body wash, knock-off perfume, hairspray, etc.

"information is reproducible and not scarce"

Information, yes; a newly-created something-or-other (script, novel, song, etc) not so much. Sure, all the words and everything were already there, but the act of creativity needed to put them together in a new and different way... that's something worth being compensated for if/when someone(s) find it worthwhile. Yes, technology is changing everything -- by making it far too easy for people to simply copy the efforts of someone else without compensating that person.

To use your lawn analogy, it's as if you put a lot of time and effort into growing a nice flower garden, and everyone that passes by takes one of the flowers. Of course, in this example, we're dealing with a physical object (the flowers), versus the intangible of a created work, but the underlying principle still applies: person A putting time and effort into the act of creation, and persons B thru n+1 taking it without paying. It is that particular configuration of 1's and 0's that represent the end result of that creativity.

TANSTAAFL

P.T. Barnum was very much the optimist when he observed "There's a sucker born every minute." -- it has to be a couple dozen of them, at least. Until/unless Facebook and MySpace are held accountable for their lack of ethics and accountability for what they allow on their sites, users are going to get hosed -- which is just ONE of the reasons I refuse to join either of those over-hyped operations.

Terrorising banks: Sure, no biggie -- right up until it happens for the eleventy-seventh time this year at YOUR bank, and you can't use your ATM/debit card/credit card...

Disrupting transit: Similar to above, but add in the perceived risk of actual physical harm.

Deliberately wrecking transit: "Highly unlikely"... like, say, crunching an airplane into a building on purpose?

Publishing false stories: Good thing bogus stories don't get spread by word of mouth as rumors...

Disrupting news sources: Unless, of course, one (or more) of them happens to be one you've come to use.

Penetrating Govt systems: Maybe not DoD, but how about something less "critical", like all the HEW records going into the bitbucket? Or hurricane predictions at the start of the season?

Actually GETTING secret govt data: Trusting soul, aren't you? What if Tim McVeigh and buddies had known where to steal some radioactive trash to add to their ANFO bomb?

Health services, et al: a hospital in England had to shut down for a while just from getting the Conficker worm; how much worse if somebody started screwing with meds? On a wide-spread basis? Or even just Operating Room scheduling, or billing? Hell, just patient admissions records?

Power grid: Hell with taking it down -- how about just borking it with unscheduled rolling brownouts, overvoltages, intermittently tripping random control relays, and so forth? Or just pushing supplies to borderline with a DDoS against the CoOps and the like?

Telecom systems: How happy would YOU be with a phone system that intermittently connected you to someone OTHER than the person you called? Or cell towers that randomly went out of service for varying periods of time? And if neither the phone company NOR the government or law enforcement could do anything about it?

TFA said that cyberterrorism isn't a credible threat yet -- which implies that it IS some threat, now. Me, I'm hoping they're not just whistling in the dark...