According to the fourth annual global PC software piracy study by the Business Software Alliance, 35% of the software installed in 2006 on personal computers worldwide was obtained illegally, amounting to nearly $40 billion in global losses. In China, the piracy rate dropped 10% since 2003 ($864 million saved in losses) while the legitimate software market in China grew to nearly $1.2 billion in 2006, an increase of 88% over 2005. In Russia, piracy fell 7% since 2003. BSA, an international association representing the commercial software industry, used IDC, the information technology industry’s leading global market research and forecasting firm, to conduct the study independently. IDC used proprietary statistics for software and hardware shipments and enlisted IDC analysts in fifty countries to confirm software piracy trends.
Worldwide, for every two dollars of software purchased legitimately, one dollar was obtained illegally. Global losses increased in 2006 by more than $5 billion (15%) over the previous year. Of the 102 countries covered in this year’s study, piracy rates dropped moderately in 62 countries, while increasing in 13. “The good news is we are making progress, however, we still have a lot of work to do to reduce unacceptable levels of piracy. These significant losses translate into negative impacts on IT industry employment, revenues, and financial resources available for future innovation and the development of new technologies. The critical elements of the global fight against software piracy are education, strong government policy, and enforcement,” said BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman.
View: Average Regional Piracy Rates in 2006
News source: BSA Press Release
Worldwide, for every two dollars of software purchased legitimately, one dollar was obtained illegally. Global losses increased in 2006 by more than $5 billion (15%) over the previous year. Of the 102 countries covered in this year’s study, piracy rates dropped moderately in 62 countries, while increasing in 13. “The good news is we are making progress, however, we still have a lot of work to do to reduce unacceptable levels of piracy. These significant losses translate into negative impacts on IT industry employment, revenues, and financial resources available for future innovation and the development of new technologies. The critical elements of the global fight against software piracy are education, strong government policy, and enforcement,” said BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman.
View: Average Regional Piracy Rates in 2006 News source: BSA Press Release
...wait, wrong song >_>
(shamelessly ripped from Norm or Kevin's SNL WNU)
The worse they can make it, the more they get donated to them.
I love how they claim monetary losses on something they didn't or weren't going to sell in the first place. Expecting a certain amount of income and then only making a portion of it does not constitute a loss. It's not a gain, but definitely not a loss.
I know a lot of people rip off Windows, Office, and Photoshop, but a lot of people buy them too. I wonder if there are niche applications with a 80, 90, or higher percentage knockoff copies.
Most of my software is legitimate but ive cracked a few things in the past mainly tools like video conversion tools say where ive needed to convert a one off video and the "demo" version only does the first 30 seconds or so so rather than pay $70-80 dollars I just downloaded a quick crack.
After that usage I probably wasent ever going to intend on using it again and usually it got uninstalled so they cant rearlly claim monetry loss on something I had no intention of buying in the first place.
Therefore there is no loss if the person wouldn't have bought it in the first place.
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