Well put. If price were the only determinant of software success, free/open-source software would have long ago crushed its competitors. It's free without nee

Well put. If price were the only determinant of software success, free/open-source software would have long ago crushed its competitors. It's free without needing to be pirated, so it gets all that free "advertising", right? :) No, you are correct that software largely gets pirated because it's popular rather than the other way around. Pirates who think they are doing software authors a favor through "advertising" are fooling themselves -- and ignoring the systemic damage done by piracy. (Where are all the big Chinese consumer software companies?)