That's not quite true according to their Terms and Service (http://www.minecraft.net/copyright.jsp),

When you purchase the game, you pay for it as it is right now. Future updates are an added bonus.

Sure. So far the game has been updated regularly, but they explicitly stated that they are not guaranteeing any updates.

That was a recent addition to the Terms. What that is referring to is additional DLC once the game is complete. Right now it is in beta. If you own a alpha license, you are guaranteed to receive additional updates free. The idea was that they were afraid of a "Everything in the future is free" clause, so just in case; they added that. There is currently no planned 'bonus updates'

The clause I quoted was there even during alpha (unfortunately web.archive.org doesn't have older versions so I can't link it).

During alpha the rules were: "if they release updates, you get them for free. But you agree that when you pay, you pay for the game as-is and you don't have any right to expect updates".

Meaning: "Maybe I lose interest in doing this and just stop updating it. You have no right to be mad about this. If I update it though, you will get that update for free"

It's an informal agreement. As long as buying the program gives you automatic updates, there is less of a reason to pirate it.

Unless someone creates an independent installer / upgrader package that will grab updates from unofficial sites, I.e. torrents. In which case the pirated versions are again almost the same as the registered versions. Then the only difference is the lag between the official and pirated versions, which is generally very low for popular products.

Convenience is the differentiator (itunes v.s. thepiratebay) and many consumers are willing to pay a premium for it.

Regardless, if you just accept that a good portion of your market won't pay for your product and work around it you can still have a very successful business. Then focusing on techniques like convenience, reward systems, free t-shirts? etc. can increase your paying customers. Maybe suing them can too, but it's definitely not the only way.

You're both right: When it was α, you got it forever, for free. Now that it's in β, you don't.

Yes. But even during alpha, the sentence I quoted was on the terms and services page.

> Buying Minecraft is not just buying a program, it's a kind of license agreement; the buyer is expecting future updates and feature improvements.

Not quite. Only those who bought it before or during Alpha subscribed to a lifetime of updates, since beta the terms are far more "normal".