Tools like Photoshop, Ableton, ArcGIS, Maya, AutoCAD, or Matlab rely on widespread piracy to remain the industry standard (also cheaper student versions and uni

Tools like Photoshop, Ableton, ArcGIS, Maya, AutoCAD, or Matlab rely on widespread piracy to remain the industry standard (also cheaper student versions and university site licenses, but those aren’t enough by themselves), and make up the lost income by soaking professional users from established firms. If large numbers of people can’t affordably access these, they will adopt some alternative cheaper tool and ultimately bleed users, understanding, and activity away.