The subtle stories behind piracy

windows vista pack shot

Dave Gutteridge just wrote a rather nerdy, rambling but interesting article called Windows Is Free in which he explains that the choice between Linux and Windows is effectively a choice between two free products because of the ubiquity and wide acceptance of software piracy. Since this effect works to preserve Microsoft’s domination of the Operating System market he suggests that they might have an interest in allowing a certain amount of piracy.

Adobe logo

I have noticed the same thing with other software companies, in particular Adobe. One very popular Mac BitTorrent site has a very clear policy about what files they will allow to be shared via their server. They have no Apple software on there and they remove products from any software company if they are asked to do so. However, they have the most recent versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, in fact everything that Adobe make. Why doesn’t Adobe ask them to take it down?

When software manufacturer’s organisations are talking to journalists about software piracy they claim that every pirated copy of a program represents lost revenue. The journalists tend to take this claim at face value but it’s obviously not true. Most people who have pirated copies of Photoshop wouldn’t have bought it if the illegal version wasn’t available; they would have made do with the free version of Photoshop Elements that came with their scanner or their digital camera.

Just think how hard it would be to launch an image editing program to compete with Photoshop. Adobe have every type of customer covered: Rich corporate types buy the full version, home users use the free version and impoverished creative people use a pirated copy. If Adobe could successfully close down the software piracy market tomorrow then a decent cheap shareware program would soon spring up and become the editor of choice for creative people and then Photoshop would be doomed.

There is a phase in the life of any piece of software where piracy threatens its existence. It’s not during the earlier stages when a program needs, above all, to be taken up by as many people as possible. After all, most people don’t want to waste time learning how to use something if it’s useless but they might take the risk if it’s free. This is why there are so many free demo versions out there. Then, once a program is dominating the market, piracy helps again; this time it works to suppress any competition. It’s in the middle stages, when a company needs extra revenue to grow and develop its product and support new users, that piracy can do the most damage.

So, I’m not defending software piracy, I’m just saying that the consequences are more complicated than they are presented as being. When you pirate very popular programs it’s competition that suffers, not the manufacturers. And maybe, if you pay for just one piece of software this month it should be something that is just gaining ground because in reality they are the only people that really need your money.

2 thoughts on “The subtle stories behind piracy

  1. I agree with you. I live in Panama and this is actually the trend. Everybody at home have pirated copies of any type of software, mainly MS Office! What kind of companies can fight with this? OpenOffice being free, can’t compete right now because everyone shares it’s files in .doc, .xls or .ppt formats. I’m a Linux fan since 2003 and I’m used to OOo, but this is the reality.

  2. I absolutely agree, and in fact, I came to the same conclusions myself – just never got around to writing about it 🙂

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