Right after the iron curtain fell was a weird place to live in in Eastern Europe. I felt like people really wanted to emulate the west, partake in its wealth a

Right after the iron curtain fell was a weird place to live in in Eastern Europe. I felt like people really wanted to emulate the west, partake in its wealth and successes, on the other hand there was this ingrained sentiment that it was a bit decadent and was not really “us” They didn’t understand us, and had their nose up in the air, snickering about the poor stray EE kids, who couldn’t distinguish investment portfolios from pension funds, the savages. There was a very strong Us vs Them mentality, and if you couple that with the idea that copying isn’t exactly theft, it has made sure any moral qualms were quickly overcome with peer pressure. You were “stupid” if you even tried to own SW legally. Its similar to how an american would feel about owning a Japanese good luck flag, or a nazi medal of honor. Yes there was a person behind it, somewhere, with his/her struggles and dreams, but at one point in time nobody really cared. Couple that with the fact that some software packages were priced as decent cars, it made the decision pretty easy. Not trying to defend it too much, just putting it into perspective so people might understand a bit better why someone from EE might feel the way we sometimes do.