3 ms·
"companies and platforms can make gains through a positive network effect (the more people use the product, the more valuable it becomes) and consumer learning
by toss1 7y ago
"companies and platforms can make gains through a positive network effect (the more people use the product, the more valuable it becomes) and consumer learning (pirate users may learn about the product and buy the legal version later on)."
IIRC, when China was opening up and Windows and Office were listed at the top of the Most Pirated charts, Bill Gates commented that he thought it was OK because it is essentially starting market saturation, i.e., getting the Chinese hooked on Windows products.
I'm not sure it worked out so well that way. Anyone have any current data on how well MS is doing vs other software platforms in China?
- mikaelmello 7y agoPiracy basically shaped Brazil's video game industry [1]. I'd say the market we have right now would not be the same if it wasn't for a whole generation (or more than one!) getting hooked to games that would never be accessible if it wasn't for piracy. It is anedoctal, but I never bought an original game until my late teens. When I finally had the means to buy original copies and support content creators, I did. If I don't want to pay for a game that I find too expensive or not worth, I don't download it anymore, since I already have so many options to choose from. [1] https://www.redbull.com/nz-en/the-history-of-video-games-in-brazil https://www.redbull.com/nz-en/the-history-of-video-games-in-...
- rahuldottech 7y agoWindows is most prevalent on PCs: https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/all/china https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/all/china