Software pirates nabbed

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rpm

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Software pirates nabbed

Two Durban-based computer outlets, Computer and Electronic Services in Smith Street and World Wide Web in the Bluff, have been raided by police for allegedly selling PCs pre-loaded with illegal software to unsuspecting consumers.
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rpm said:
Software pirates nabbed
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According to Microsoft in South Africa, one in every three copies of their software is used illegally. Estimates suggest that reducing piracy by 10 percentage points over four years could generate an extra 1 200 jobs in the local IT sector, R6 billion in local industry revenue and R490 million in additional tax revenues.
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Or by reducing the exorbitant and insane prices of their software they could reduce the amount of piracy, get their software onto more desktops AND generate even greater profit.

But greedy people don't think that way. :(
 
What I don't get is they burned their fingers. Agreed with Microsoft not to do it again and settled it in a civil suit... yet they continue on doing it?

Its apparent there is something really wrong in South Africa. People steal from other people, go to jail, get repremanded, but at a drop of a hat will do it again only to be caught again.

Death penalty for pirates? :D
 
BTW...

Estimates by technology researcher IDC suggest that worldwide, the industry is losing more than $10 billion a year from pirated desktop software.
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so, this little battle down in Durbs just won 0.0001% of the war. Wow, what a victory against Piracy! :D

you know what I would like to say....

THE ONLY WAY TO FIGHT PIRACY IS....
 
I am obviously stupid and ignorant.
Please describe slowly to me where the job creation part comes from.
Preload with Linux.
 
One can have very little sympathy for these kind of pirates.
 
Give the customer a choice between free opensource (Linux+openoffice) and commercial (Windows) and commercial (Office) and explain the difference in price.

You still need to buy Microsoft Office together with Microsoft Windows (these aren't bundled)... but any modern Linux distro will have a copy of OpenOffice thrown in as well - at no extra cost to the customer. Plus it's more resistant to the current crop of nasty trojans and viruses circulating out there - which you'll need to purchase a good antivirus program for Windows as well...
 
Garyvdh said:
Or by reducing the exorbitant and insane prices of their software they could reduce the amount of piracy, get their software onto more desktops AND generate even greater profit.

But greedy people don't think that way. :(
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OpenOffice preinstalled on every PC we sell.! Most clients very happy with it, and love the idea that its included extra at no cost. If Microbuck$ bring their prices down, less reason to pirate the software, and there more jobs would be created but as Garyvdh says its so true..
 
packetloss said:
I am obviously stupid and ignorant.
Please describe slowly to me where the job creation part comes from.
Preload with Linux.
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+1
How exactly do they figure that there will be x amount of jobs if piracy goes down?

I think it is only a play of words to sound impressive in government circles.
 
...could generate an extra 1 200 jobs in the local IT sector...
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I wish they would explain what kind of jobs stopping piracy would create.

The only thing it would generate is more money for M$ and more ubuntu users me thinks.
 
Lian said:
I wish they would explain what kind of jobs stopping piracy would create.

The only thing it would generate is more money for M$ and more ubuntu users me thinks.
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Don't forget the rich fatcat want to buy a new holiday cottage at the sea coast... if ppl stop purchasing his product then he won't have enough money to buy his dream cottage, and he'll be most unhappy...
 
Are there any representative of MS here. I have a question regarding piracy and would like to ask it by PM.
 
Just bring in the Indian Navy to sort the pirates out. Oh I forget, Durban is the capital of India :D

According to Microsoft both shops were engaged in what is known in the industry as hard-disk loading.
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Eish... thats far too technical for me... hard disk loading... lots of thought went in to that...
 
I have to agree with the general sentiment here.

While I don't agree with pirating software, no matter who the software vendor is, I do think that companies like Microsoft, and their pet the BSA, pull these "statistics" out of their rear ends. These so-called statistics are based on pure speculation. One of the reasons people pirate software is because they cannot afford it. Microsoft is not losing out on income, that money was never there to begin with!

They also make sweeping statements about pirated software, which I object to. My software is not pirated. I use Linux and other open source software, so my software is 100% legal. (Note, in this particular case Microsoft said "their" software, but too many other times they've just said "software.")

Also, like others have said, if you want a GOOD and cheap alternative to Microsoft, check out Ubuntu or Kubuntu Linux. It's free... free of charge, free of viruses, free of malware.
 
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