Pirates cost software industry $50 billion in 2008

[BoJo]

I hate the attitude that pirates take...

Maybe it doesn't equate to a lost sale, but you don't posses an inalienable right to take something just because you weren't planning on buying it in the first place. If you don't want to pay for a product, don't use it. Simple as that.

[Digitalx]

I hate the attitude that pirates take...

Maybe it doesn't equate to a lost sale, but you don't posses an inalienable right to take something just because you weren't planning on buying it in the first place. If you don't want to pay for a product, don't use it. Simple as that.

Like just because food is too expensive to buy you should just starve ? of course there's alternatives though some may take to stealing but can you blame them ? if one chooses to be morally righteous that's their choice but the actions and choices others make depending on their specific situation shouldn't be a virtue to kick dirt on them as generally there's a valid reason to do what they're doing whether you agree with it or not.

[Southern Patriot]

The problem with this article though is that the media always wants to equate loss of a potential sale with actual loss of money. They absolutely ARE NOT the same thing. That seems to be the biggest problem with the sensationalism in the media these days: homeowners claiming they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because their house isn't worth as much today as when they bought it (guess what, my car or computer aren't either, that is the way MOST things work), auto industry claiming they lost billions because people didn't buy their cars (perhaps if they made cars that people wanted to buy instead of continually rehashing the same things over and over again they would attract buyers again), banks and Wall Street investors claiming they lost billions because their investments went down in value (you work in essentially the world's largest casino, sometimes you make bets and they don't pay off; it happens).

[Brad.]

When will these dumb asses get it through their heads that piracy is not a lost sale? If someone was thinking about downloading something then they were most likely not going to purchase it anyway. Now, if that same someone walked off with a physical boxed copy from a store, then that might mean something.

No, lol. If you don't pay then you shouldn't get the software. End of.

[Sethos]

No, lol. If you don't pay then you shouldn't get the software. End of.

Ohhh the double standards Brad :p

[Brad.]

Ohhh the double standards Brad :p

Yeah, at least I'm not making up bull**** to excuse it :p

[Sethos]

Yeah, at least I'm not making up bull**** to excuse it :p

At least they own up to it ;) :p

[Brad.]

At least they own up to it ;) :p

Barely anyone admits to being a cause of a lost sale.

[O.G]

The most pirated piece of software is Windows.

I think over 50% of pirated versions was a lost sale. Sure, there are people upgrading that may have not done so in the first place but I think that those number much less than 50%.

Microsoft say some 30% of all Windows copies are non genuine, but 15% of nothing is still nothing. Just becuase some one may pirate something does not mean that had they not been able to pirate it they would have been forced into buying it, this is just a blatently stupid suggestion. The majority would have never even considered buying it or simply opted for a cheaper alternative, still not a lost sale, or even a lost potential sale. Photoshop is a great example simply because next to movies and music, it is probably THE most pirated piece of software. The thing is, it is professional and aimed at professionals. Professionals are more likely to be in a position to buy it, more so if they actually use it as a means to generate revenue in their profession. Some no mark spotty 13 year old downloading it to make an ub3rl33t forum sig makes little to no difference what so ever to Adobe's profit margin. It is simply unethical to make money using pirated software, otherwise who gives a crap.

[inactive]

as usual they over exaggerate how much they loose.

here is a example which i think is pretty much fact...

say 1 million people pirate a program and say that program cost 15 dollars. so 1,000,000 x 15 = 15,000,000 ... so they would then come back and claim they lost 15million dollars. but in reality not every one of those people who pirated it would have bought that particular piece of software had they not been able to get it for free. so there 'losses' are FAR lower than they claim they are.

[CoolCatBad]

I remember recently someone from iD Software (Quake...etc) made the claim that the entire Personal Computer industry (meaning not just PC's but Macs and every Portable device you can think of) is built on the piracy model.

Every Personal Computer device these days is advertised as a cornucopia of media experience, but is the cost of stocking your personal catalog ever discussed?

Well no, because the cost of furnishing the ever-increasing hard disk space with media is unrealistic without piracy.

[Ji@nBing]

But it is a potential sale! The whole point of pirating software is to acquire it without having to pay for it. Anyone who pirates software either wants or needs it. That want or need results in a potential sale. Why? Simply because that person would have been forced to buy it if piracy didn't exist.

Wrong in a lot of cases. I'll fully admit to pirating Photoshop. I NEVER would even consider paying the ridiculous price they are charging for it. If I couldn't pirate Photoshop, I'd just use The Gimp. So how is that the loss of a potential sale? The only thing that lost the potential sale is the obscene pricing. And since it's digital, no one losty anything in any way.

[carmatic]

the way i see it is this

joe computer user has a fixed amount of money... he could spend it all on dining out at a fancy restaurant and not pay for all of the stuff he uses on his computer, or he could skimp a little on the food and go somewhere cheaper, and spend the rest of the cash on the software...

when i pay for software, i dont do it in exchage for something... i do it because i support the developers, and im willing to have less of a meal so that they can get something out of what they did

[DDStriker]

When will these dumb asses get it through their heads that piracy is not a lost sale? If someone was thinking about downloading something then they were most likely not going to purchase it anyway. Now, if that same someone walked off with a physical boxed copy from a store, then that might mean something.

i wonder if they count the people who download a game try it out and if they think its worth the money go out and buy it?

*looks at title* .... Cue a legion of pirates looking for excuses and word play to downplay the effects of piracy.

Anyway, while I don't want this to happen for a while, the years we start going digital only for most media is when pirates possibly start losing. At least in terms of games, especially on consoles.

Closed platforms will be easy to regulate with digital content, handing out complete bans on consoles/accounts is a sure shot way to annoy the pirates.

haha read my mind :p

[acnpt]

Wrong in a lot of cases. I'll fully admit to pirating Photoshop. I NEVER would even consider paying the ridiculous price they are charging for it. If I couldn't pirate Photoshop, I'd just use The Gimp. So how is that the loss of a potential sale? The only thing that lost the potential sale is the obscene pricing. And since it's digital, no one losty anything in any way.

When I saw the thread title, I started thinking about what percentage would be photoshop :rolleyes:

[Axel]

I do not advocate piracy at all.

These appear to be incredibly biased estimates that are NAIVE beyond belief.

As many people have said before: 1 Pirated copy does not necessarily equate to 1 Lost sale. Although in a handful of cases it is perhaps conceivable that some who would have bought in the past, may instead opt to pirate in the future. Who knows.

[Midge]

alot of these companys products are in the place they are right now, because of piracy....

if there was some way to Stop piracy dead. lets say half the pirates would find an alternative and half would buy

you lose a massive portion of your userbase. and the free alternatives start to gain momentum.

I know all my friends have pirated photoshop, why? - because we use it for hobby based drawing and whatnot, not as a buisness or money making venture so paying the extortionate prices isnt an option tbh, thus if we could nolonger get a pirated version we would simply use GIMP/Paint.net/etc.

i would assume alot of others would follow in this trend and therefore adobe loses a portion of its userbase, yes unpaid... but alot of the users of photoshop learn from using the pirated versions at a younger age/hobby, then move into the buisneses world with those developed skills and use these tools productivly and obviously purchase them, had these users turned to gimp because photoshop isnt available would you say the outcome would be the same?

(this is how i see it anyhow, IMO i dont mind piracy as long as it isnt used to make money for personal gain Like pirating movies to sell)

[-KJ]

Wrong in a lot of cases. I'll fully admit to pirating Photoshop. I NEVER would even consider paying the ridiculous price they are charging for it. If I couldn't pirate Photoshop, I'd just use The Gimp. So how is that the loss of a potential sale? The only thing that lost the potential sale is the obscene pricing. And since it's digital, no one losty anything in any way.

It's an excellent (I'd say the best) raster image editing program geared towards professionals that use it for a living, so of course it'll cost a bit more than its competitors. There are other Photoshop versions for consumers that should be enough for most people.

[Growled Member]

As many people have said before: 1 Pirated copy does not necessarily equate to 1 Lost sale.

I agree. Most people I know pirate Photoshop. If they were forced to buy it they would just pirate another program or go with something free. They would not buy PS. All this BS about lost sales is just that, BS.

That's not saying piracy is right, because it's not.

[Arkangel]

Expect more hard times to come, companies will be looking at trimming the fat and some talented people may be laid off which may result in a disgruntled developer or two with an axe to grind so like many before him he will ponder his options and may take to reverse engineering for whatever reason, vengeance, boredom, etc.

You will be surprised how companies come out with these figures, some companies look at projected sales from past statistical sales and if they fail to met expectations they will point the finger at the obvious target regardless of various other aspects such as, economy, quality, value for money, freeware alternatives, etc.

I myself have purchased many games however I have remained very loyal to RTCW ET (which is free)

I am well aware piracy (horrible word) has some sort of impact on sales but honestly lets get serious here there are a number of factors involved here.

Consoles is not the silver bullet to game piracy in fact I could brew up a number of ways that consoles can be defeated however I'm not interested in the console market and I'm sure if top level teams attacked consoles they would blow that theory right out of the water.

BlueRay is technologically greater than DVD however the uptake has been very underwhelming much to the same vista is to XP, although Windows 7 is expected to be a winner I doubt it will do as well as expected.