Software Piracy

[wonder]

Hey guys!

In this thread, I'd like to share my views on software piracy for private use*, know your opinion on this matter and perhaps, start an educated discussion about it. My opinion follows below.

Piracy is a good thing. Actually, piracy is a great thing.
Hell, piracy is the best thing that ever happened to the software industry!
Why? Here's why:

Pirates are brand ambassadors.

As an example, let's consider Adobe Photoshop, which sells for $699 USD.
Have you ever wondered why, edition after edition, year after year, Adobe software is so easily crackable? How come keygens and serial numbers surface almost immediately after each release? My answer is simple, world domination. By making it "pirate-friendly", Photoshop has become the number one image editing software in the world. It has become the industry standard. In video editing, the same goes for After Effects and Adobe Premiere.

Adobe knows how to play its cards right by "letting" standard users, freelancers and students pirate their software. In the end, these "pirates" are nothing more than the ambassadors of the brand. Everyone talks about Photoshop, everyone knows what Photoshop is. "Hey man! Check this out, I've just torrented Photoshop CS6!" - "A birthday card? Sure, I'll do it in Photoshop!" - "Man, not even Photoshop can help her!"
Thanks to piracy, the word "photoshop" has even made it into the dictionary.
Long-story short, free publicity.

How do they make money then? Simple. Not only they save millions in advertising, Adobe knows that, due to tight regulations, companies and government organizations will always have to pay for software. Think about it, schools, universities, newspapers, TV stations, photography studios, even the marketing departments of companies A, B or C will have to pay at least 700 dollars per license, at least.
Knowing that their licenses usually apply only to one (or two, for private users) computer, I would say "great business!".

Adobe CS6 comes in four primary bundles: Design Standard ($1,299), Design & Web Premium ($1,899), Production Premium ($1,899), and Master Collection ($2,599).

Adobe was just an example, if you replace the word "Adobe" with "Microsoft", "Photoshop" with "Windows" and "After Effects" with "Office" and "Premiere" with "Outlook", you'll see that everything remains true. In that regard, Microsoft has learned its lesson well and Windows 10 is now (kind of) free.​

Pirates do not cause loss of revenue.

Think about it. Someone who torrents, seldom buys software. Someone who buys software, seldom torrents anything.
Netflix users do not use Popcorn Time and Popcorn Time users do not use Netflix.
An iTunes user seldom downloads any mp3 and an mp3 downloader would never use iTunes.

Did someone copy you software? Did someone took their time to crack its copy-protection? Did someone made a torrent of it?
Good. Be happy, be proud of yourself!
You, the developer, created something good enough to be desired by many.
Not many of us accomplish that.

"How about my revenue!?" Relax, whoever is torrenting your software was never going to pay for it anyway.
Just sit down, lean-back, rest your feet on the table and enjoy the free advertising. Once your product becomes famous enough, the "pay-users" will come.​

Pirates drive the industry forward.

Imagine a world where, due to its very nature, software piracy just wasn't possible and there was no free software.
Would we be where we are today? Only rich people and big companies would have access to software, computers would still be in its very own niche market. Society would be a lot different without free software.

When I was studying Visual Basic back in high-school, my school didn't have enough money to buy licensed software for all the computers in the IT rooms, so our teacher took the risk and installed pirated copies everywhere. Thanks to him, some of us are now software engineers.

Be honest with yourself, did you buy all of your Windows versions? Did you pay for all of your "payable" software in your life? Has every piece of software you ever downloaded been entirely legal? While for some this might be the case, for the majority it will not.
Remember the 90's? "C:\>diskcopy a: b:" - It was just too simple not to do it.​

*Private use.

You're probably wondering if I was going to forget mentioning the asterisk (*) from the first paragraph.
While I do agree with piracy for private purposes, I do not agree with taking profit in someone else's work.
People who crack software only to sell it, or ever worse, people who crack the software in order to rebrand it as their own, should have their asses kicked.​

- THE END -

Thank you for reading.

 

[WAZUMBi]

I find my apps all over the place. They are sites available for download that I have never heard of or care to use.

Here's an interesting one:

http://playapp.kocpc.com.tw/posts/author/WAZUMBi!/1/119831

The site provides link directly to Google Play but you can also play the apps directly from your computer.
Almost none of them work though.

There are many others. The one problem is that they insert their own ads.

Whatever...
Your points are all valid...

 

[wonder]

The one problem is that they insert their own ads.

Such websites and individuals are trying to take profit from your work, they should be shut down.

As I stated above:

While I do agree with piracy for private purposes, I do not agree with taking profit in someone else's work.

I do agree with the concept of a "noble" pirate, a sort of Robin Hood, who only wishes to provide free software, not the one who takes credit for someone else's work.

 

[Cableguy]

There will come a time when private use of software will be free, and only corporate and advanced use will be payed.

 

[Ed Brown]

There will come a time when private use of software will be free, and only corporate and advanced use will be payed.

I can't see that ever happening. If it does then I should be able to walk up to a car dealership and simply drive away with a brand new car...why not? It's for private use! Just because something does not have a physical manifestation does not mean that it has no value.

Piracy is piracy. Plain and simple. It's also illegal regardless of who has done it or if it's for private use. I do not disagree with all of what @wonder has pointed out and I do believe that the piracy trade has had a positive effect for some apps and companies.

Do I agree with piracy? No. For me, knowing that I've missed out on a sale regardless of whether they were going to pay for it or not is unacceptable. What gives them the right to 'own' a copy of my software without first having paid for it?

However, in saying that, can I do anything to prevent or stop it? No. I simply have to accept that piracy is going to happen regardless. As @wonder has already pointed, I'll put my feet up and relax and know that my app is going to be pirated by a lot of people. If I can be smart about my apps and make it so that the pirates want to spend a few coins on purchases in the app then great.

 

[Peter Simpson]

As a self employed developer, I knew that I had made it when my software had been cracked by a number if different developers lol.

Yes my main software package has been cracked left right and centre on a number of occasions, yes I keep changing a formula, and yes it just keeps getting cracked again, then some clever little bastard wrote a keygen, so I had to change that formula too.

Anyway back to the matter at hand. All the software on my computer is legitimate, well a developer friend does give me his companies enterprise keys for VS every couple of years, but apart from VS Enterprise everything else is legitimate. I replaced Photoshop with GIMP, I use Google Docs (Drive) etc etc etc. Basically all the other packages that I use are either free, donateware or cheap enough to purchase, yes that includes Windows too.

I will admit one thing though, I use TeamViewer a lot for logging into clients computers, well maybe one a month if that. I had been using it for years and decided to try and purchase it, the TeamViewer creators wanted £450 for a licence for it, I just said no dam way and switched over to TightVNC which is free but nowhere near as friendly as TeamViewer. I was willing to purchase TeamViewer, I could have continued using it 100% free and I do still have it installed on my machine and I do still use it at times, but using it for personal use is 100% free (and I do not charge) and for business use it leaps up to £450, that's just crazy. I know lots of people who use TeamViewer free but would have purchased it if there was a single user licence let's say for about £50, but from £0 straight up to £450 is a huge leap.

The TeamViewer example above is just one example of a package that could sell to small individuals like ourselves but we are under their radar.

I know that the above example has got nothing to do with pirating, but there are packages that people use because they are clearly better than other packages out there, but they just cost too much for individuals like ourselves to buy. I can clearly see why a lot of people use pirated software. Too many people use pirated software just because they can't be bothered to find out about packages like Open Office or GIMP, let's just download Office 2013 and Photoshop and crack them is their attitude, which is rather sad really...

 

[wonder]

However, in saying that, can I do anything to prevent or stop it? No. I simply have to accept that piracy is going to happen regardless. As @wonder has already pointed, I'll put my feet up and relax and know that my app is going to be pirated by a lot of people.

That's exactly my point. As developers, the best thing we can do is take advantage of the free advertising.

A good example comes from the "Game Of Thrones" TV series.
There is no doubt that the show has become one of the most successful TV series in the world due to it's record 7 million illegal downloads.

From the article "Time Warner, Inc. CEO admits Game of Thrones piracy is good for HBO":

Time Warner, Inc. CEO Jeff Bewkes said recently that Game of Thrones piracy is a net positive for HBO because it creates more word-of-mouth excitement and it gives HBO more new subscribers than it takes away.

“Basically, we’ve been dealing with this issue for years with HBO, literally 20, 30 years, where people have always been running wires down on the back of apartment buildings and sharing with their neighbors,” he said. “Our experience is, it all leads to more penetration, more paying subs, more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising… If you go around the world, I think you’re right, Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world. Well, you know, that’s better than an Emmy.”

Source: http://bgr.com/2013/08/08/time-warner-cable-ceo-hbo-piracy/

 

[Cableguy]

Even the music industry, that tries so hard to prevent piracy, uses it to boost artists careers... Even if only 10% of all software or downloads are legal, they create addicted users among the pirated ones, that will later consider to buy it.
I disagree with the car dealership example in the way that, the market offer is way more varied than the software that is very much specific. Here in France, we don't need to buy a car to be able to drive one around. We have electric "pay by time" freely available vehicles we can use.
It's a bit like what MS did with office 360....
Developers are finally seeing the big advantage that releasing a "poor man's version" can bring in terms of publici. See the Avast Anti-virus example. Freeware version for private use, right from the start, to prove users they were good. Then the more complete corporate versions that take advantage of the good name created by the free version in order to sell. Panda, Norton, Kapersky... They all where "pay first, opinate later".

In the long term, one of two realities will emerge... Free " limited feature" software complemented by more complete paid versions, or a web/cloud based "pay per use" system.
In either one, in the long run, companies will see their profits increased

 

[thedesolatesoul]

Cant disagree with your reasoning and points more.
You seem to make it out so that price/piracy is the only factor.

1. Photoshop is so popular because it is damn good, and in the time when it was introduced blew all of its competitors away. Imagine a perfect world where there was no piracy, Adobe would still get all the good marketing but infact it would have to become much cheaper so people would do a price/quality analysis. With piracy it throws the price out of the equation, inundating the market with an opinion where price isnt a factor, and thus allowing adobe to charge whatever they want.

2. This point is based on the assumption that if a pirate would not buy your software if a pirated version was available. This stems from 'media piracy' but the same is NOT true for 'ip piracy' which is not entertainment based. If someone is in need of a software, and there was no alternative he would have to buy it.

3. Pirates drive the industry forward? Or infact are they destroying the free and opensource software industries instead? Maybe linux and free tools would be more popular today if so many people didnt pirate windows.

 

[wonder]

Cant disagree with your reasoning and points more.
You seem to make it out so that price/piracy is the only factor.

1. Photoshop is so popular because it is damn good, and in the time when it was introduced blew all of its competitors away. Imagine a perfect world where there was no piracy, Adobe would still get all the good marketing but infact it would have to become much cheaper so people would do a price/quality analysis. With piracy it throws the price out of the equation, inundating the market with an opinion where price isnt a factor, and thus allowing adobe to charge whatever they want.

2. This point is based on the assumption that if a pirate would not buy your software if a pirated version was available. This stems from 'media piracy' but the same is NOT true for 'ip piracy' which is not entertainment based. If someone is in need of a software, and there was no alternative he would have to buy it.

3. Pirates drive the industry forward? Or infact are they destroying the free and opensource software industries instead? Maybe linux and free tools would be more popular today if so many people didnt pirate windows.

You raised some valid points, it's a nice counter argument.
The reason I started this thread was not to enforce my opinion on anyone, but rather be able to reason with everyone else's.
Truth is, I was never able to discuss this matter with IT related people, namely developers, and I'm happy I can do so now.

Like some programmer once said,
"I don't have the solution, but I admire the problem."

 

[sorex]

The PhotoShop case only required a CD/DVD and a text file or piece of paper with a key.

If they shipped it with a dongle it wouldn't have passed around so easily but it would've been cracked afterall.

Since one of the CS versions they validate keys over the net which is a nice approach but easy to patch.

I guess the main reason for their CC is not the constant program update/upgrades but being sure they get what they deserve.

Although €12/month (144/year) is quite a lot if you only open it a few time a month or when you live somewhere where €12 is like you monthly income.

So I guess a lot of people just stick with what they had as offline version.