Software Piracy!! Why?

[Spiritofliberty]

Errmm, hello every one, i am doing a survey (part of my assignment) and so i would like to ask you people here who have had definitely brush with all walks of people in the tech world...

Here comes:

The question is why do people manufacture or sell non-genuine softwares? And in you opinion what is the impact to a country's economy?

Thanks for answering this rather contoversial question...

[Cricket]

The question is why do people manufacture or sell non-genuine softwares?Money.

:) Cricket

[mbossman2]

ditto. money.

counterfeit and piracy are huge money makers (on the order of billions of dollars) and are not limited to just software.

Computer and networking hardware are subject to counterfeiting as well:
http://washingtondc.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/cisco022808.htm
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/22/business/NA-FIN-US-Europe-Computer-Chips.php
http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2402p105id123792.htm

this is a multi billion criminal opportunity and attracts some of the "brightest" and most ingenious criminals.

As a side note to everyone: ever wonder why some folks have hardware/software for 10-20-30% or more cheaper than everyone else, on a regular basis? Having been in this industry for going on 15 years (on the manufcaturer and distributor side), I can tell you that the margins on common, commoditized products are on the order of 1-2% for the distributor, 3-5% for the retailer (which may or may not include the shipping), netting out in the 8-10% range. so how can this fly by night company you never heard of beat out that pricing by a lot?

odds are it is either counterfeit or stolen equipment/software.

[Strider]

Counterfeiting and I guess Software Piracy can also be used for sabotage by other countries for they try to hurt the other countries economy. On an individual scale I think it's a person not thinking about the impact they are having on the prices of software and not taking the time to find free alternatives (being lazy in other words) . I for one feel completely comfortable sitting down and working on my computer knowing every piece of software on my computer is legit.

[liambl]

I know my Photoshop CS3 is not entirely legal. It was a necessity to have Photoshop for me to be able to pass NCEA art this year. It has to be CS3 so I did set out to buy it. I went to a shop thats usually easy on the prices expecting it to be around $200. The price for Photoshop CS3 was over $1,500, thats more than my entire PC cost! For a student like me I simply don't have that kind of money, so I borrowed it off a friend and found a bypass to activation to use just during assessment time, otherwise I would have failed this year. I will be uninstalling Photoshop as soon as my work is completed, I hate having non legit software, give me a dirty feel:(. All my other software is legit.

[MaxRat]

you really should edit that post...thats a no no here...and even posting it is a bigger no no...

[Cricket]

I went to a shop thats usually easy on the prices expecting it to be around $100.$100 for Photoshop CS3?!? :eek: What made you think it was so cheap? Here in the US Photoshop has always gone for a very premium price.

:) Cricket

[liambl]

Why does Photoshop sell for such a high price? I looked up the extended PSCS3 and it was nearly $2,000. that boggles my mind. They must be making huge money since all you get is a disc which cost them like 10c to write. And do they have Enterprise edtitions like Microsoft software? It would cost huge money for a image production company to fit 50 PC's with PS even at wholesale rates.

[Statica]

Ok this thread is taking on a direction that is going against the rules of the forum. liambl we do not allow the discussion of use of pirated software on this forum.

Regarding the cost of Photoshop .. they charge whatever they think is fair. If you needed the software to pass an exam, being a student is not an excuse. Nearly every professional/vocational course out there has a cost associated with it. And students are expected to make allowances to meet those costs. What you're proposing is the same as engineering students stealing books because the books are expensive. Do your research on the cost of your course or your certification BEFORE you join it and then decide whether you can afford it. Adobe charges that kind of money because of the market for their software, and because people who use their software generally make a lot of money from it.

The cost of software is not the price of a CD. How about this .. you have a CD/DVD writer dont you? You, in spite of being a student, can afford to buy writeable CDs or DVDs. How about you write a graphics software? Do post back here when you've done that and report back on the man-hours it took you to do that!

[Floppyman]

First: With software like Adobe Photoshop you are paying to license some pretty big intellectual property, ever look at credits/opening screen to see how many people are involved in the creation of Photoshop? These folks have to be paid as well....

And even if the price is more than the software is really worth, Adobe is still a company in the game to make a profit and continue to grow their business. No one seems to be complaining about Apples iPod's which are marked up significantly when compared to just the price of their parts.

Second: Most big Universities give a significant price break to students on big name software packages because they realize that students need to use them to do their coursework. These academic licenses are a blessing, but obviously limited to just educational use.

Yet there's also interesting catch: Companies such as Adobe would be smart to provide Universities with cheaper academic licenses. The students end up using their products while they are in school and once they reach the workplace, guess what? That's the software they're trained on and the employer may be forced to shell out big $$$ for a corporate license and support. That's where the real $$$ start rolling in.

[perkster]

to be honest the gimp could probably do most of what you needed so no need spend all that

[mbossman2]

Adobe does have an academic program for their software as do many software companies for the exact reason that floppy points out. Unfortunately, programs like that are abused, hurting innocent commercial resellers who have to compete using the full and properly licensed software against the full product with an academic license.

Piracy/counterfeiting/unauthorized distribution (gray market) are huge issues for all mainstream high tech manufacturers. Like I pointed out above not only does it hurt their legitimate resellers, it also cheapens their brand, threatens their reputation and costs them money, not just in lost profits but also supporting and, in some cases, fixing the issues created by unauthorized products.

(gee you don't think I deal with this on a regular basis do you?)

In addition to all of that, in the long run it stifles innovation, forces companies to take additional steps to protect their intellectual property (which interferes with usability) and ultimately adds additional costs to the product which are passed on to the consumer.

Unfortunately there are so many people who are blinded by price that they don't stop and think "why is this guy so much cheaper than (insert some of the largest resellers in existence)?". While there is some variation in pricing from reseller to reseller, for the exact same product from the exact same manufacturer, you shouldn't see more than a 10% variation in price. If you do, something is up and a few questions may be in order.

[sdkfz]

The question is why do people manufacture or sell non-genuine softwares? And in you opinion what is the impact to a country's economy?

1) Becasue there are those who will buy the merchandise
2) Money
3) Effects - http://www.thetruecosts.org/portal/truecosts/getthefacts/default