Software piracy cost SA R1.5bn in 2006: study

Im sure I posted an article a while back where it said some MS guy approved of piracy rather than people moving to Open Source
 
The BSA always bandies around these crazy figures. MS makes more then 50% profit on their goods which means of that so called R1.5 billion, at least half would have flown out of SA. It's actually a lot higher as the 45 odd percent costs that make up their product costs include R&D and marketing costs. That means, probably closer to 75% would leave the country and I am sure that the 75% that left the country would have cost more jobs then the less then 25% that stayed behind.
 
/me reads the article and acknowlages the figures
/me sees the latest profit stats for Microsoft
/me continues to burn a copy of WinVista Ulitmate
 
Piracy is wrong when you can afford to buy but don't... THAT is a lost sale to rights owners....
 
antowan said:
Piracy is wrong when you can afford to buy but don't... THAT is a lost sale to rights owners....
Click to expand...
Not necessarily, I don't agree with any piracy whether people can afford to buy the product or not. IMO, people should switch to an alternative if they can't afford something or simply do without it. The moment one makes exceptions (eg, it's ok to copy from big bad MS), the argument never ends. There is OpenOffice, Linux and other alternatives that people can use. It's not fundimental right to play game X like it is to have water. You can live without the game (Well most people can live without WOW :) ) but not without water. If more people actually started using OO instead of MS Office then there would probably be a fundimental shift in the pricing at MS to make it more affordable. By pirating Office, people ensure that all documents sent around are created using the MS formats and are ideally viewed on these formats.

That said, people sometimes will pirate a piece of software even when they can afford to buy it. They have absolutely no intention of buying the software so it is not really a lost sale. If they rave about the product, it may even result in sales.
 
The BSA's operating maxim is "Everyone is a pirate until proven otherwise"

That's the same as "guilty until proven innocent"

They therefore assume that EVERY business in South Africa is running illegal software until they can do an audit and verify that it is all legit. That's how they come up with their figure.

Total Software Usage minus businesses that we have audited equals total amount of piracy. They exist at the whim of and for the benefit of the software publishers. And those software publishers want the government to do more to push software sales. So inflate the amount of piracy... get government intervention and favourable factors in retailing and distribution... equals more sales... it's all a marketing gimmick and has little do with actual "software piracy". It's all about profit. always.
 
just take look at just about every flea market, there are so much piracy going there....
 
Abe said:
Not necessarily, I don't agree with any piracy whether people can afford to buy the product or not. IMO, people should switch to an alternative if they can't afford something or simply do without it.
Click to expand...
Personal use maybe, but companies provide jobs and tax that benefit the country. The country comes first before the profits of some megawealthy foreign company.

I've read that long ago the US made cheap illegal copies of books by foreign authors because they wanted to promote literacy through dirt cheap books. They should have just let the people be illiterate apparently.

By using free alternatives you are still depriving the commercial supplier of a potential sale. Why do you think the more nutty elements in the commercial sector view free software as akin to theft or communism.
 
You know, the sad part of this pathetic campaign of the BSA, is the implication that the ONLY way for companies to make good for using 'pirate' software is to PAY them and BUY legitimate copies of their stuff. The average person listening to the radio advert doesn't even know about FOSS.....

So all thus campaign can be doing is to scare some businesses into buying legit copies of Microsoft stuff.....

Just imagine how lame the advert would be if they said ".....if you are running pirate software, there's nothing to worry about, because you can get replacement software for free. It will do all of your everyday business tasks, and it's not from us....."

FUD - Microsoft works on FUD. Pathetic. They are not losing a single cent. Those who pirate, will continue to pirate, and power to them.

(from somebody who has legit copies of all Microsoft products, and who REALLY resented having to pay inflated prices for 5-year old software (oh, and a 'free' R20 mouse (the ball type))).
 
Tns said:
just take look at just about every flea market, there are so much piracy going there....
Click to expand...

The very fact that we are still seeing that is an indication of the problem. Who is going after those guys? The police? The BSA? There are several stalls at every flipping flea market you go to... and they thrive because they know nobody is going to come after them. Oh, there's a token bust every now and then... for what reason I don't know... but the BSA are too busy publishing their "stats" to go after those guys in any meaningful way.

I once called the Films and Publications Board about a store in my area selling pirated games. Gave them my number and all... the next day they rocked up at my house to arrest me... cos they had heard that I was selling pirated goods... freaking morons.
 
noxibox said:
Personal use maybe, but companies provide jobs and tax that benefit the country. The country comes first before the profits of some megawealthy foreign company.
Click to expand...
Why can't companies use OpenOffice? There may not be an alternative to Windows for corporates but there definitely is to Office which costs a lot more.
I've read that long ago the US made cheap illegal copies of books by foreign authors because they wanted to promote literacy through dirt cheap books. They should have just let the people be illiterate apparently.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. But that is a problem that the gov should handle. Sit down and negotiate with the suppliers for schools etc. MS wants their software in schools so every little person coming out of school knows it.

By using free alternatives you are still depriving the commercial supplier of a potential sale. Why do you think the more nutty elements in the commercial sector view free software as akin to theft or communism.
Click to expand...

It's not about denying a company a sale, it's about paying for what you use. Use something else and pay it's price. If company A loses out because you chose product B, they must either make their product better, cheaper or both to try and win you across.
 
People who sell Pirated sofware should be locked up for life.

I for one have about 80% pirated software on my PC and I give it to who ever comes to my house and asks about it or wants it. I will never sell something that is not mine to sell. I get it for free why sell it ?

Lock the "retailers" of Pirated copies away !
 
Abe said:
Why can't companies use OpenOffice? There may not be an alternative to Windows for corporates but there definitely is to Office which costs a lot more.
Click to expand...

In our case because it is slow and not always quite compatible.
 
Abe said:
The whole software patent thing is a load of hogwash. You can't even write a text editor without stepping on some patent somewhere.
Click to expand...

Agreed! But we don't have them here if I recall right, thankfully!
 
Pitbull said:
People who sell Pirated sofware should be locked up for life.

I for one have about 80% pirated software on my PC and I give it to who ever comes to my house and asks about it or wants it. I will never sell something that is not mine to sell. I get it for free why sell it ?

Lock the "retailers" of Pirated copies away !
Click to expand...

I hope you don't apply that logic consistently...it may land you in a heap of trouble.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X