BF2S Forums What is your take on software piracy?

Being a person that woks in the software entertainment industry, I will say that I hate to even hear about piracy. This is how I make my living and put food on my table, roof over my head and cloths on my kids back. The way I see it everyone that "STEALS" software is no better than a common thief. The theft of this software is one of the reasons that the prices are not going down at the retailer. You are also taking money straight out of my pocket and affecting my ability to support my family.

if i was in the industry id be pissed too if people stoll money out of my pocket.
but, if i can get somthing for free im going to take it.... simple as that.

Last edited by the_heart_attack (2005-12-22 16:18:38)

Another important factor I forgot to mention was that when you install pirate software on your computer you have no way of knowing what “additional” software has been included with it. And this is a major reason why I prefer to buy operating systems in particular as you just cant be sure that there are no key loggers, viruses or other spyware type programs included.

Do people actually think that companies would drop their prices if everyone stopped pirating?

Would some people who pirate now because a game costs A$100 not pirate if the same game cost A$45
I know I would buy more.

Then again I am also aware of my attention span most of the time.  I installed Photoshop and have played with it for all of about 10 mins.  I am glad I didn't pay for that. For all intents and purposes... I don't have it.

IronGeek wrote:

Do people actually think that companies would drop their prices if everyone stopped pirating?

.

thats right, if anything wouldnt they rise due to the fact that if you want it your going to have to pay for it.

I used to have lots of pirated software just for fun. I didn't even use it it was just something forbidden to do: download illegal software. I think that if I enjoy a game or think that a certain piece of software is great and I need it I buy it. That's how it works: you pay for something so they can make that thing better or make a completely new product or offer new services etc.

I am a student but I also work as a software developer. That said I can do almost everything with opensource software. Of course when I comes to gaming and such you need to have a Windows PC but I exclusively use Windows (for which I have a license) for Gaming the rest I use linux. Of course I put in a lot of time and effort to have a smooth running system that fits my needs perfectly. You learn a lot during the process and once it runs stable you barely have to change anything later on.

There's also free (but not under a opensource license) software for Windows. Check out what google is doing with Picasa and such.

=Robin-Hood= wrote:

[snip]
in one of my previous educations I needed AutoCAD (full version)...
[snip]

In my opinion this is a fault on your school/university's side. If they teach you something and you have to use X to learn what they teach you should they not provide you X or at least give you access to X (not just during class) so you can pass your class? Obviously AutoCAD would be too expensive to buy a bunch of licenses and give them away to students but providing a Computer Lab that students have access to and installint AutoCAD on a couple workstations would be the least they should do.

Kobrakai wrote:

Another important factor I forgot to mention was that when you install pirate software on your computer you have no way of knowing what “additional” software has been included with it. And this is a major reason why I prefer to buy operating systems in particular as you just cant be sure that there are no key loggers, viruses or other spyware type programs included.

The argument holds for every "closed source" software. How do you know "what" your operating system is doing? When you can't review the software you rely on the trust to the company that made the software.

The last point I want to mention is that I see a big difference between pirated software and "pirated" audio&video. In most countries software is adequatly priced and you get service with it (like patches, updates etc) so most of the time you get a fair deal while I am not so sure about the music business...

Anyways, don't want to start a flamewar with that. Just my 2 cents

Last edited by AD_Kensan (2005-12-22 17:14:17)

I always download from the internet. But some games like HL2 were you need steam and stuff i bought that one. And i bought BF2 just cuz the developers are swedes..

I have very strong feeling about this topic. I am not saying that piracy is entirely correct, but I do believe in it. I, as well as millions of people around the world pirate games, software, movies and music. The developers make so much money that if a couple of people use their software for free it is no big deal. I have $1000's of dollars of pirate software which I use to complete school work and for entertainment. I like the software, but I could not afford to buy it. I believe that if it is for personal use then it is ok, but if it is for industy or to make money THEN it is wrong.


If the industry reduced their prices even slightly (as an example BF2 costs $100 in Australia) then there would be less piracy in the world. They should only charge full price to people who are using the software to make money. And in other cases such as movies, games and music the prices should also be lowered to compete with the black market. If the games were say $50 a piece ($AU from $100) then i would buy the games instead of wasting heaps of hours checking the copy protection and trying to emulate it or downloading the game.

You can see the huge markup that these companies make on their software etc. EA last year posted profits of $3 BILLION US. If they reduced their prices to half they could still make around $2 Billion as their sales would increase. They should stop being greedy

PS - I DID BUY BF2 LEGALLY that cost $100 but it is definately the most cost effective game I have ever baught

man, look at how many people used to post in these things

that robin hood dude was fucking craaaazy