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I've heard companies also intentionally do not go after individuals pirating software e.g., Adobe Photoshop - it benefits them to have students pirate and skill

I've heard companies also intentionally do not go after individuals pirating software e.g., Adobe Photoshop - it benefits them to have students pirate and skill up on their software and then enter companies that buy Photoshop because their employees know it, over locking down and having those students, and then the businesses, switch to open source.

Duanemclemore 3y ago
I'm sure there are plenty of other examples, but in my personal experience this was Autodesk's strategy with AutoCAD. Get market saturation by being extremely light on piracy. Then, once you're the only one standing lower the boom. I remember, it was almost like flipping a switch on a single DAY in the mid-00's when they went from totally lax on unpaid users to suing the bejeezus out of anyone who they had good enough documentation on. One smart thing they did was they'd check the online job listings and if a firm advertised for needing AutoCAD experience they'd check their licenses. I knew firms who got calls from Autodesk legal the DAY AFTER posting an opening.