Can we talk about piracy!!!???

[Ant]

Lookiing through the forums, there are many questions which point towards this particular aspect of software. Requests for keygens and the like.

What is the general consencus regarding the availability of pirated software amongst you?

I have to qualify my own position, as I live in Thailand and I can buy a CD full of the latest cracked software or the latest games for about a quid fifty (3 dollars).

In fact, the unavailabilty of legitimate software here makes it almost necessary to buy pirate stuff.

No, I'm not excusing myself or looking for redemption, if you were here you'd know it too, but sometimes I just look around at what I can buy here and despair.

Even the most reputed of stores sells it. It's totally accepted here. I get PS2 games for 70 Baht (about a quid).

[DaveC2003]

If software companies didnt charge an arm and a leg for their products, I'm sure piracy in that area probably would stop.

[Ant]

Yes that's very true.

An insurance loss adjusting company I worked for had a few genuine copies of Windows and office products, but the price for one copy of Word registered for one machine cost about 24,000 Baht (around 800 dollars now but more then). At that kind of price there's not many companies here prepared to pay up especially with the availability of pirate stuff.

Most of the machines there (as at many other companies), were running pirated software.

I looked in a local IT shop in my local mall (a reputable dealer here), and the only legit copy of Windows I could find had been ripped from a PC bundle and had "Not For Resale" stamped all over it. Of course it was for sale. The staff didn't have the foggiest clue that it shouldn't be sold seperately.

[Disk_Contented]

Originally Posted by DaveC2003

If software companies didnt charge an arm and a leg for their products, I'm sure piracy in that area probably would stop.

Try explaining that to authors of cracked shareware.

Counterfeit, or "fully working versions" of soft are freely available for no cost other than your internet connection and download time.

Markets are flooded with it. It's a fact of life that will never be stamped out.

In fact, the unavailabilty of legitimate software here makes it almost necessary to buy pirate stuff.

That doesn't wash, sorry.