yes its a fact actually
i heard a proverb .. it says

what intel gives, microsoft takes it away

actually MS makes people compelled to buy their updations. so piracy takes place. in many countries, there are no strict rules to prevent this. Many s/w development companies also uses pirated s/w in their working premises.

But many a times, the MS products R best suited for small scale business like small shops. I personally prefer sql server over oracle because of its easy to install and work . Many times my Oracle server on NT causes a dumping which made my databse in an unknown state. Also i find it difficult to configure oracle on network than sql server. With VB or VC++ pirated in hand, its more easy and cost effective to develop applications.
that may be one of the reason MS products are more used for small scale development and they doesn't have enough money to spent on s/w purchase if it is getting for free