Do you think the gap was caused by a decline in the quality of education? I'm convinced the Italian software industry was set back in the Eighties due to the la

Do you think the gap was caused by a decline in the quality of education? I'm convinced the Italian software industry was set back in the Eighties due to the lack of laws protecting intellectual property. It was more convenient and risk-free to sell compilations of pirated software on datasettes in newspaper stands, than set up a software development company.