In Indonesia many shop still selling pirated CD like it is an original software.
they sell about $1.5 to 2 (Yes it is not a mistyping) in Big mall with big shop.
and I believe same things happend in China too.
Do they will close their eyes from this ?

just wanted to add abit of news.

the drinkordie members in finland didn't get sentenced, they we're only sharing "warez" with close friends so they couldn't give them a hard time.

this is pretty much the same laws we have in sweden today, will however change on july 1th. :(

I dont know why people havent done this in the past, in regards to selling products is the following:

Say, for example, Microsoft Windows sells for $149. In every 1 Million sold, about a big chunk is lost due to Pirating. Shame, right?

Well, Say Microsoft dropped the price down to $50 instead. Chances are, and unless you are dead poor (then you shouldnt have a computer in the first place) then that fraction of people who pirate it will just buy it and Microsoft will make the same money as they did selling it for $100 more. Thats just my 2 cents, and I hope it gets to someone marketing these goods. They ARE goods and need to be looked at every angle possible.

50 bucks? I can buy an 80GB hard drive for that much. POS Windows VS Hard Drive. Let me think.... yeah, HD.

Very small percentage of people can get hardware for free without getting time, but ANYONE with a computer can get soft for free, so a good way to sell would be to make our favorite Windows open source :-)

I agree with cman21.
I think this is especially true if they add some 'extras' with the software; by extras, I mean at least a full documentation (not an electronic pdf file). Look: when we buy the box MCafee Virsusscan v9 ... there's one CD and a small piece of paper ... no real difference with the 'online' version of this antivirus ... the choice is quick to make

As always the ripe software companies are making a fortune ,so why not bring a law in to make then sell at reasonable price.or give their hike profit to good cause

Take a look around message boards and you'll see apps that cost $29.99 still pirated. Its definately logical to think that dropping the price would reduce piracy, and maybe it would by a little, but overall many people will choose free over spending $1.

I'm not sure what country you're from, but in the United States, we have a market economy. We are not socialists. Anyone who comes up with an idea or product has the right to sell it at whatever price they want. If the price is too high, then people have the option not to buy it. If the price is too low, the company does not make money, in wich case, there is no reason to have the company.....

Apps...not Operating systems. I know several folks personally who would go for the $50 legit version, whereas they are now using a corp VLK pirated version simply to be compatible with todays software.

"50 bucks? I can buy an 80GB hard drive for that much. POS Windows VS Hard Drive. Let me think.... yeah, HD"

No, its more like Hard drive and jail time sooner or later when microsoft gets smarter enough to know you are illegeal. Everyone must face the fact that they MUST pay for windows, one way or another. Its just if you want the eay way or hard way out. And btw, i live in Canada. I guess thats a skip away from how the U.S thinks of things, I guess we think more about the later outcome than whats happening right now. Thanks

While I agree that software prices are sometimes too high, you have to remember that the price of software also covers things like technical support, bug fixes, service packs, continued development, and often free upgrades. Also, writing something like an operating system is no small undertaking, and when writing an OS (and all support software) is the job of a few hundred people over the course of several years, the costs add up.

My two bits....

thats why i b m is moving all its work to china ,,cheap labour

Tech support is not free from microsoft and if they wanted to cut cost make a good OS in the first place

MS does provide technical support for free in the form of KB articles, of which there are ten or hundreds of thousands. Beyond that it is true that you have to pay but for 75% of the problems I've had the KB has the answer if you know how to search.

If software wasn't so expensive there would be less pirating going on lets face it who wants to spend sometimes hundreds of dollars on a piece of software unless they know for sure the program is something that they feel is worth it and does everything they need it to do.

Trial software is nice but plenty of companys don't offer uncripled versions. i'm going to use EverQuest 2 as an example only 7 days to try it you could only get up to level 6 and only a small area you can explore sure it's just a game i'm just using it as an example but for me to buy the game and pay them money for a subscription i want to be sure it's worth the money first. Plenty trialware versions are like that functions that you can't use in the trial version only the paid one which sometimes costs hundreds of dollars and if it doesn't produce the results that you want your out of luck once you open the software you can't return it so it might as well be a very expensive coaster for your coffee cup so can you realy blame someone for downloading a pirate version to try out first?(and yes i know there are leeches out there that just want everything for free)

Fortunatly i'm not to picky when it comes to software usualy the free stuff that comes with hardware like photo software that comes with cameras and stuff from sites like BetaNews is usualy good enough for me.

"f software wasn't so expensive there would be less pirating going on lets face it who wants to spend sometimes hundreds of dollars on a piece of software unless they know for sure the program is something that they feel is worth it and does everything they need it to do."

Stupid moron. A new car costs 100 times the cost of Microsoft Office. Should I just go out and steal one everytime I want a new one?

If you can't afford the software either don't buy a computer in the first place or use FOSS.

A car is nothing like software but since you want to use that referance would you buy a car without taking it for a test drive first?

As i said software companies should offer an un crippled trial version for people to make sure the software does everything they need it to do so they don't end up spending sometimes hundreds of dollars for something that is of no use to them.

OSS folks REALLY need to start advertising.

Imagine a billboard on your way home from work that said:

"Why steal software? Is the risk of 10 years in jail and a $10,000 file worth it when you can use our products for free?

Steal Windows and go to Jail, or use $distro Linux and $applications for free instead. There is an alternative, please respect software vendors and don't break the law." - Insert OSS vendor here

use o e m you dont get the pretty box and that fat book with it

take a leaf out of your book respect your customers buy not charging so much for profit

Huh? Do I look as wealthy as Mr. Gates? :-P

I'm told daily that OpenOffice is better than MS Office, that Gimp is better than Photoshop, that PSPad is better than UltraEdit, and that Firefox is better than everything. If this is true, why is anyone stealing anything anymore? Say it ain't so!

good call

Because our games don't run on Linux yet. That is the ONLY reason for me. Tho I do actually own my Windows. :P

sure you do...

The truth of the matter is that many of the open source products are NOT better than their closed source counterparts. In many cases they are cheap ripoffs of the closed source products. These types of apps will not go mainstream in the business world until they stop trying to copy closed source products and begin to innovate on their own. When Adobe comes out with a new product, and there is no alternative, companies invest in that product if it suits their needs. In many cases they invest significant resources into training and integrating that app into their workflow. When an opensource product comes out that tries to do the same thing, most of the time, the OSS product is inferior.

Why would a company switch over? They will be wasting $$$ changing their workflow, and what do they do when it doesn't have a feature they've come to depend on? (Many would say they can program it themselves, but most companies have better things to do than to develop such applications when there is already a product on teh market that suits their needs)

open sauces is better ,in most case and its has loads of free upgrades so it seems your wrong

there is a good and bad side to all this...
on one end you have the way too overpriced corporate software... on the other hand the person who would purchase it if it was cheaper...

i think to make it fair everytime you were to buy lets say adobe photoshop for $500 or whatever it is... they should have to write the code from scratch...everytime...
not 1 original code with million of copies selling for huge prices...

see... the farmer grows his corn and sells it..
he starts with a seed all the way up to a full grown product... he spent time and money into it...
and it's worth to pay the dollar you pay for it...
but... he cant take that one piece of corn and make free duplicates like they do with software...
he has to work as hard for every piece of corn..

it's the same with every other business besides software...

software is in a way cloning an original design for free and reselling it for the same price...

it doesnt make much sence if you look at it that way (if you get what im talking about)
It's just the way the world turns these days.

i can allready hear the programmers whinnin...
i program myself and i know it's a tedious job..

i just don't understand the overpricing of the items...

i just keep wondering what longhorn is gonna sell for.... ;-)

Why do you think it is wrong for a company to make money? Do you own any stock or have a 401K, (most Americans do)? Do you realize that the US has a huge amount of our financial resources caught up in shares of these companies? These companies seek to make as much money as they can, because that is what tehir stockholders expect and demand.

I like the prosecutor's remarks here:

"They see themselves as stars, night time tappers of keyboards. You might feel that their lives are rather sad, living as they do for very large parts of their days and nights in a virtual world, in front of a computer monitor, cocooned from existence," said the prosecutor.

Sounds like his wife found a new husband on the internet and now he's a tad bitter.

"They see themselves as stars, night time tappers of keyboards. You might feel that their lives are rather sad, living as they do for very large parts of their days and nights in a virtual world, in front of a computer monitor, cocooned from existence," said the prosecutor.

Hey - I resemble that remark!

Microsoft has $46 billion in "liquidity" ... Adobe bought Syntrillium and immediately upped the retail price for CoolEdit Pro from $129 to $299 even though they changed nothing in the software itself ... and they still had enough cash to buy Macromedia !!! Corel paid a pretty penny for Jasc just because Paint Shop Pro was that much better than Corel Paint ??

The cost of software has gone the way of Medical care here in the US. You pay top dollar for stuff thats still full of security holes, bugs and conflicts. I sure hope Nvidia doesn't include the cost of writing drivers in the cost of their $500 top end vid card, because if they do it would be a major embarrassment.

If software pirates can be put in jail for "stealing software" then why can't software company execs. be thrown in jail for writing buggy software ? I lost count how many times a poorly written program forced me to format my hard drive and start from scratch. That's criminal as well.

Yes the software writers deserve to make a buck too, but when it gets to the point where they are huge corporations being traded on the NASDAQ and have a few billion in spare cash then you know its gone too far.

One day software writers will realize that if you charge $1 for their software and 10 million people buy it, your going to be rich.

Another reason to move to Canada, a universal health care that works, and software. :)

And you have the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and get to say aboot! :)

But more seriously, just because software can be expensive and companies are successful doesn't mean people should be allowed to steal it. That's not how things work.

yeah, they should turn to http://www.sf.net for alternatives before they steal software. I'm sure that part of the problem with the software being so high is that few people seem to think they have a choice. If it's free, they don't want it, if it costs a lot, they want it for free.

Many would rather just rip off a copy of the real thing than have to learn how to use an alternative even though they know an alternative exists.

"If it's free, they don't want it, if it costs a lot, they want it for free."

Now you are just making up things... sounds like how two year olds think. I personally prefer opensource or freeware.

The prices on some software is just not reasonable compared to what the quality of the software is.

Good example is Windows.

Since i started on Windows, id like to buy Windows that has NO EXTRAS in it. Im talking about WMP, IE, Outlook etc etc. I dont need it nor want it.

Do i have a choice?

I want pay on things i need, not things that Microsoft (or anyone else for that matter) thinks i need...

Monopolies will rule the world one day, if it already isnt the case.

Did someone say Free Software Foundation?

"Don't sit in front of the computer
'til your eye hurts
Get up, get out, and join the movement"

-KRS One 2004 Keep Right

I agree 100% that software prices are rediculous why should anyone have to pay M$ $3,000 for example windows 2003 Enterprise when M$ could easly sell the software for $30 or $50 a copy. I mean come on that is total greed and no one can deny that. I do Agree however that if you build a good solid product then you should receive good profit but it should be fair. Not just for one class of people that are wealthy.

hey, i am basing this on experience - people consider it "settling" for Open Office when they compare it to "getting" MS Office (illegally). My point was MANY people (not all, including my self and you) would rather get something illegally free than learn something a little different (which suits all their needs) and have it for free, legally.

As I read, sorry i forget the source, Americans are so into advertisement. I used to think that ads didn't work, then I realised they did, even on me. I remember seeing a pepsi commerical and someone says "gosh, who would think that pepsi has to advertise." I thought about it some and came to the conclusion that the ads aren't so much new consumers, but for those existing consumers. I used to see a pepsi commercial and say, "hmm, i could go for a pepsi right now." That's what Pepsi are after.

Anyway, many people seem to think that Windows and Mac are the only choices out there - may i ask why? You could even tell people that GNU/Linux is an OS and they dont know what you are talking about until you say it's similar to windows/mac. People only know MS Office, for example of an office suite. Not many people comparitively know that OpenOffice.org is out there, and when you tell them, you might interest them, you might not. Many will use Open Office, many will prefere MS Office because it is what they know, and they know it costs a lot, so they feel so good that they got a great deal of getting ms office free instead of $500+

Another self experience for ya... I bought a used cd Sugar Ray - Floored. There were several used copies of this cd. It was in pretty good condition too. A few days after I bought it, I looked at it and thought I only paid $6 for this, nobody wants it (being in abundance of used). The self value I got out of that cd dropped simply cause of those thoughts. After a while I really started to dig it. I thought why were there so many copies of this returned? I came to the concusion that so many people heard the song "Fly" and bought it for that song. They then learned that most the cd wasn't similar to the song. In fact, i laughed at someone for buying the cd because "Fly" was not our style.

that too

heh...too bad the RCMP folks I've talked too say the health care system sucks, but that's neither here nor there

someone mentioned turning to sf.net for alternative software before piracy.

Here are the top downloads from sf.net (sourceforge) Talk about irony.

1 eMule
2 Azureus - BitTorrent Client
3 BitTorrent
4 DC++
5 Shareaza
6 VirtualDub
7 eMule Plus
8 CDex
9 ABC [Yet Another Bittorrent Client]
10 guliverkli

So carrying on that argument....

Do you campaign against the oil companies? Do you think because they make vast profits that make M$ look second rate that you should be entitled to go and fill your car for free?

Double Post

You people need to stop comparing stealing software to stealing physical assets.

The software company never looses anything and the public gets software that in many cases they wouldn't otherwise buy.

Ontop the software maker gains free promotion that turns directly into more sales & profit. Unless ofcourse they are making poor software in which case they shouldn't be making money while the public is warned.

Its a win and win situation.

Keep in mind that there is software makers out there that used or considered using piracy as a marketing technique. With all this piracy of Microsoft products one must wonder why they are the most profitable software maker in the world.

I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

unfortunate, isn't it?

I used to believe that those sorts of products could be used for good, but well I just can't believe it anymore. It's too obvious, I don't agree with the MPAA or RIAA or BSA etc, but they have a point about most of these P2P apps unfortunately.

The piracy of software builds demand as those who cannot afford the purchase have access to the program, build their familiarity with it and eventually have the opportunity to influnce a buying decision for either their company or themselves. The jillion or so pirated copies of XP and Office build the familiarity and skills of those using these "free" copies. These same people take their skills and familiarity to their workplace where the existence of these skills makes the purchase of these Microsoft products more economically appealing as the workforce is already trained in their use. I have believed for years that Microsoft secretly encourages piracy of their products for this very reason. Of course they would never admit it.

EXACTLY. Even if I had say a piece of paper that I touched and decided to put it on the market for 1 million dollars because it was graced by my hand and someone stole it... I'd be pissed, right?

This is the first reasonable suggestion I've seen. the only reason it will never be as popular as closed source products is that companies MARKET their products! Most OSS is not advertised or marketed to businesses. One has to actively go looking for them....

You DO have a choice. You can either choose to purhcase the product the way the seller chooses to sell it, How they sell tehir own product is THEIR choise), or you can choose to use something else.

If you choose to break the law, and use a product illegally, then you have chosen to suffer the consequences of your actions. The law is not relative. You either abide by it, or you break it. A judge will not care what your reason is.

Hi Euroidol,

The point is not what they COULD sell it for, the point is what they CHOOSE to sell it for. When something costs more than we can afford, we have to accept that we cannot have it. The companies are only doing what is best for their business. This is the point of having a company. In the US, the market will decide who wins....

First of all, you can't really compare a physical product (like a car) to software. You're car isn't going to become obsolete in 18 months and unsupported in 36 months. You're warranty may run out in 3 years or 36000 miles on your car but you can still drive it on the road. Not so with software.

As for me, IF I hypothetically were to get software from P2P networks... which I am not saying that I do... it would be because, as an IT professional, I need to stay up to date on all the newest versions of MS OSes and software.

Lastly, I think that when people get a pirated copy of software, music, or movies from the internet they kinda feel like they're giving the finger to these multimillion dollar corps. You know, score one for the little guy and all that.