2003 Piracy Stat Are Out...Wow.

[jinxy]

I just read in the papers today, that in the netherlands (abot 33% illegal software), the numbers went down for the second year in a row..

Seems to be a different story

Not necessarily,

That could be due to increased sales of new pc's, with software pre installed. Who is going to use a pirated copy of win 98 when there new box has xp pre installed. For example.

[er0k]

all i have to say is, hell yeah. Im sick and tired of software companies ruling the information. Buying out freelance programmers / programs. This is good news to me. I dont care if you have a job at a software company and need the income to feed 12 babies or whatever, get a different job if its that big of a problem. like on the movie antitrust "Human knowledge belongs to the world, like aspirin" etc. And i bet you, about half of that money lost comes directly from m$. They lose more and more money with each distro. They need to realize that as their software gets better, so do the hackers, so do the pirates. Go piracy.

[annihilator_god]

BSA members include Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bentley Systems, Borland, Cisco Systems, CNC Software/Mastercam, Entrust, HP, IBM, Intel, Internet Security Systems, Intuit, Macromedia, McAfee, Inc., Microsoft, RSA Security, SolidWorks, Sybase, Symantec, UGS Corporation and VERITAS Software.

source: http://www.bsa.org/ (the group who did the research)

Not exactly what I'd call a non-biased group.

Not that I'm saying software doesn't get pirated. Technically, I think I'm using a pirated copy of Microsoft Visual Studio 5.0. I have the official CD from MSDN but I think the licence is only applicable to the person who had the MSDN subscription. I'm not about to go out and buy a full copy of 5.0, 6.0, or .net because I don't really need it right now. Of course, microsoft recently released a beta of a "hobby" version of .net c++ and .net VB that "could" be free when finished. I'm not testing it right now, but I can't wait to try it out.

I'm not sure if it's been said, but there is another reason that cracked copies of software might be sitting on a hard drive, Warez Collecting. I've heard people brag about their hordes of pirated software inside chat rooms. In the past, I had my own nice collection of cracked games. I never installed them or played them, but I traded them for other games. I wasn't about to go out and buy games that wouldn't run on my computer.

Also, I have used pirated software because I couldn't find a legal copy. Anyone have a copy of OS2 v2.1 sitting around that I could use on my 486 laptop? Didn't think so. (well, I did eventually find a copy at a legit used computer store)

Neither one is a good excuse, but it's the truth.

[er0k]

"it wont be long before someone owns the information, you cant stop it" - again antitrust. Well, pirates attempt to stop people from totally owning the information. You people that claim to be unix and open source users get off your ass and stop trying to support the anti-piracy acts and be yourself. No one wants to pay $60 for software that is entirely inferior as well as proprietary.

[mjk]

I HAVE A DREAM!

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its code: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all software is created equal.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Microsoft the sons of former software pirates and the sons of former software company owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the OS of Windows, an OS sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of justice and open-sourceness.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the price of their software but by the contents of their hard drive. I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Redmond, with its vicious monopolists, with its founder having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right down in Redmond little programs will be able to join hands with big programs as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every freeware application shall be exalted, and every monopoly shall be made low, the in-between programs will be made plain, and the screwed up programs will be made straight, and the glory of the Tux shall be revealed and all of the Internet shall see it together.