Piracy is something common in everyday live and whether you like it or not, we are all definitely pirated users in one way or another. So, the main question is, why is the usage of pirated software (especially) is widely used? Why do we still use pirated software when we know it's a crime and against the law? There are a lot of answers to this million dollar question and I have compiled most of them in this thread right now. And I hope forumers can participate in this thread as well by telling me which category are you on so we can do some research and maybe even get the company to realize what is needed to get us buy the original software. Here is a set of reason why we are getting pirated software.
1) Price
Yes, this is a common problem for everyone as the price of an original software is usually expensive. Sometimes, it can go from RM50 to even RM10,000 just for a single piece of original software, don't you think that it's ridiculous? I'm sure we all have economic problems of our own and certainly would not want to add burden in our monthly expenses by buying original software and so in the end, everyone looks at the pirated version. The pirated software, ranging from mostly free to only a couple of bucks, is something that everyone smiles when getting it. Due to the low cost of the pirated software, most of us don't even bother to look at the original software anymore and the money we saved can be used on far more important things in our life.
2) Availability
This may sound simple but it's a major problem as well in everywhere. For example, compare with the shops that sells pirated and original software, which is more? If you ask me to give out the ratio, I would say that pirated software shops would win by the ratio of 10:1. That is the sad truth and to add salt into the wound, there are some original software that never got into some certain country due to region problems. Sure, you can pay online and download from the internet but wouldn't that take time to download from the internet, especially when you really need it? Or would you rather go to a shop and buy it for a RM15 and move on with our life? Sometimes, it's the availability problem that forces people to go for piracy.
3) DRM (Digital Right Management)
Another big reason why would people go for piracy. Basically, DRM is a anti-piracy method developed by companies to prevent people from using cracks and reverse engineer the software. Yes, this seems to be one of those perfect methods as users will need to insert the game disc while playing the game or go connected with the server the whole time while using their software but doesn't this seems a little unfair to some of us? The reason people do not like DRM is because some people do not have internet in their home in the fist place. If there is no internet, then we can't use the software then? What about people that doesn't get to connect to the server due to their college campus blocking them with firewall? Or the worst case scenario, what if the software's server went down and everyone around the globe can't connect to it? These things has to be taken into consideration in my opinion and it's proven to be too much of a hassle for most users. But even with all these DRM going on for new software, the cracking team still got to bypass it which proves DRM is a waste of time in the first place.
4) Long and tedious process to perform before you can eventually get to use it
As you can see above, this is the comparison between a pirated and original movie. I know it is overdone but the fact still remains that we need to see those disclaimer craps from the companies when we actually bought the original product... (Do you see the irony in it?)
As this one is regarding about Windows issue and original software. They tend to link each other up and often screws up in one way or another. Yes, this happens a lot to everyone and it could take hours before you can even run it properly. And I happen to seen this in real life as well, my friend bought an Adobe Master Collection CS4 Student Edition for RM399 and tried to install it. The moment we open the cover, there is a note written "STOP, before you can install, you will need to register to Adobe.com to get your student license key!" My friend was like "Ok, how hard can this be..."
1 hour later,
After finding all over the package and website, we finally found the stupid website that allows us to register for student key. After we are about to finish keying in the details, the last thing in the form was "To prove that all these information you gave us was real, please provide us a prove from your respected college stating that you are a student there and send to us" We looked at that and then looked at the clock 10:30pm, it means we can only resume this registration tomorrow then, what a waste of time! Luckily Adobe still allowed the installation without the key and we get to use it as trial version. But the process of getting the letter from our college took us another 2-3 days, IF there were no trial versions available for Adobe, I swear I would have crack the software myself and screw the license key. But the moral of the story was, IT's FREAKING LONG AND TEDIOUS PROCESS TO GET YOURSELF A LEGITIMATE SOFTWARE!!
5) Installs weird stuff into our computer
If you realize, the moment you install an original software, they will have additional (hidden) software installed into your computer that works like a DRM as well. Some of them might be harmless but some could be fatal to our computer. As proven by people all over the world, one of the biggest company called SecuROM was used in mostly new games. Usually it's installed without the users knowledge and acts as a anti-piracy protection. What the users do not know is that it can also cripple a user's pc without any warning and when I mean cripple, it means damages the hardware and OS. Another software that is commonly used will be called Starforce which has been told over and over again by people around the world how this software protection tool killed their pc. It was so bad until to the point where the company themselves offer publishers to release patches that remove the copy protection just to make the gameplay more comfortable to the customer. And if you think it's a small problem, then you are dead wrong. Some software (Rockstar's GTA 4) went even more bizzare that they require users to download it themselves (with the file setup size is 211.78mb) before the game can work but after numerous complains from angry users, they decide not to let RGSC (Rockstar Social Gaming Club) a compulsory thing to install/run when starting up GTA 4.
Signing off,
Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune
