4 ms·

"Billions of dollars are lost every year from illegal downloads of music, movies and software" The industry has yet to present proof to this statement other th

by iwwr 16y ago

"Billions of dollars are lost every year from illegal downloads of music, movies and software" The industry has yet to present proof to this statement other than: estimate the number of downloads and do a dumb multiplication with retail prices.

wipt 16y ago
Exactly. And as has been said and cited before, those who have cracked versions may never use them, or very well may never have bought it to begin with (a user is not by default a client - but they have the potential to become one). Congress put out a report stating that piracy actually (in some way, be it minor or not) helped "digital sales" I find it frustrating that my lawfully purchased software is sometimes much more difficult to run (keys, registration, ads before it starts up e.g. EA Games) than my friends running pirated copies.
- iclelland 16y ago
  Not only that, but those who didn't spend their money on {software|music|movies} very likely managed to spend it on something else. There is no giant pirate treasure hoard, where "pirates" cache these "billions of dollars every year", and we would not all be billions of dollars richer if only these pirates would give their money to the software / entertainment industries instead.
- rick888 16y ago
  "Congress put out a report stating that piracy actually (in some way, be it minor or not) helped "digital sales" "minor or not" So did it help or didn't it? I don't know how they could ever prove this. How do you prove intent, one way or another? By asking people that pirated software if they would have purchased? If companies didn't actively try to fight piracy (even if it doesn't work that well), they would eventually go out of business. This is because free versions would become easier for the masses to obtain than the paid version and nobody would be willing to pay money for something they can easily get for free. The only reason it works for big companies like Microsoft and Adobe is because they can take the financial hit. Most small software companies can't. The same thing is happening with software developers and open source. Companies are slowly realizing that they can get the software they need for free. Sure, they can hire a developer to make changes to it, but that developer doesn't need a college education and can be paid much less (or they just outsource it to India, Russia, or the Philippines). "I find it frustrating that my lawfully purchased software is sometimes much more difficult to run (keys, registration, ads before it starts up e.g. EA Games) than my friends running pirated copies." Blame the pirates. Remember that these protections were built as a result of rampant piracy. DRM wasn't around during the Napster days. Personally, I don't even sell apps anymore..only services. This way, there's nothing to pirate. I suppose this will be the end result of piracy: all commercial software will be services that need to be paid on a monthly basis.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
benohear 16y ago
I also can't help thinking that piracy helps the incumbent by protecting the market at the bottom end. I'm pretty sure low cost or open source alternatives to, say, Photoshop would have a lot more traction if the option to pirate it wasn't there.
- pavel_lishin 16y ago
  Yup. If I couldn't pirate Photoshop, I'd be pretty handy with GIMP by now.
- khafra 16y ago
  Counterpoint: Cory Doctorow points out that the newcomer's enemy is not piracy, it's obscurity. If you have an awesome piece of intellectual property that nobody knows about, people copying and downloading can put it on the map.

by iwwr 16y ago

wipt 16y ago

Exactly. And as has been said and cited before, those who have cracked versions may never use them, or very well may never have bought it to begin with (a user is not by default a client - but they have the potential to become one). Congress put out a report stating that piracy actually (in some way, be it minor or not) helped "digital sales" I find it frustrating that my lawfully purchased software is sometimes much more difficult to run (keys, registration, ads before it starts up e.g. EA Games) than my friends running pirated copies.

iclelland 16y ago
Not only that, but those who didn't spend their money on {software|music|movies} very likely managed to spend it on something else. There is no giant pirate treasure hoard, where "pirates" cache these "billions of dollars every year", and we would not all be billions of dollars richer if only these pirates would give their money to the software / entertainment industries instead.
rick888 16y ago
"Congress put out a report stating that piracy actually (in some way, be it minor or not) helped "digital sales" "minor or not" So did it help or didn't it? I don't know how they could ever prove this. How do you prove intent, one way or another? By asking people that pirated software if they would have purchased? If companies didn't actively try to fight piracy (even if it doesn't work that well), they would eventually go out of business. This is because free versions would become easier for the masses to obtain than the paid version and nobody would be willing to pay money for something they can easily get for free. The only reason it works for big companies like Microsoft and Adobe is because they can take the financial hit. Most small software companies can't. The same thing is happening with software developers and open source. Companies are slowly realizing that they can get the software they need for free. Sure, they can hire a developer to make changes to it, but that developer doesn't need a college education and can be paid much less (or they just outsource it to India, Russia, or the Philippines). "I find it frustrating that my lawfully purchased software is sometimes much more difficult to run (keys, registration, ads before it starts up e.g. EA Games) than my friends running pirated copies." Blame the pirates. Remember that these protections were built as a result of rampant piracy. DRM wasn't around during the Napster days. Personally, I don't even sell apps anymore..only services. This way, there's nothing to pirate. I suppose this will be the end result of piracy: all commercial software will be services that need to be paid on a monthly basis.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

benohear 16y ago

I also can't help thinking that piracy helps the incumbent by protecting the market at the bottom end. I'm pretty sure low cost or open source alternatives to, say, Photoshop would have a lot more traction if the option to pirate it wasn't there.

pavel_lishin 16y ago
Yup. If I couldn't pirate Photoshop, I'd be pretty handy with GIMP by now.
khafra 16y ago
Counterpoint: Cory Doctorow points out that the newcomer's enemy is not piracy, it's obscurity. If you have an awesome piece of intellectual property that nobody knows about, people copying and downloading can put it on the map.