Unlicensed software costs SA R4 billion

[Swa]

This .... ^^ Quite honestly, I think piracy probably helps guys like MS stay dominant .. Imagine 30 % of those people downloaded Linux instead ... would make a lot of vendors sit up and take them more seriously from a support / driver / software perspective, creating a more "fair" market for OS's ... realisticly, I really dont think it would be long before people start saying "well for this licence fee I hardly get anything that open source wont give me ... never mind then" ....

Well MS is now giving Windows Mobile away for free. It keeps MS a more dominant company among all the Android users so in the end they actually get a return.

It's in the nature of intellectual vs physical goods.

Btw, last I checked no-one was forced to upgrade their software. Those who wish to run last year's version or one from ten years ago are just as free as those who don't.

I've certainly never had the Software Upgrade Police pitch up to check whether I've upgraded or not. Anyone else?

Well the nature of IP is such that we can get shafted. We are actually forced to upgrade or lose some software altogether. If you happen to have missed it a lot of companies now have control over whether or not your software activates. I've checked through windows and some of its certificates expire ~2020. A lot earlier than some of its previous versions. When the time comes core parts of it will no longer validate and fail to work hence forcing an upgrade. Software for your cell is often tied to the IMEI so you can't transfer it around even with only one copy active.

I really don't mind paying for licensed software especially the operating system. I bought an original Windows 7 Home Edition and still use it to this day. My experience is that pirated operating systems are not reliable.

It's placebo. The OS is still the same whether pirated of the ORIGINAL disks or installed from them.