Economist.com recently posted about the current state of piracy around the world according to the Business Software Alliance, which is a trade body. As you can imagine, it’s really not too good. No information was given about how they got the numbers that they did, but the calculation that was reported was based upon the number of computers in each country, and the dollar amount of pirated software per computer.
In terms of dollar amount and total losses, the United States tops that list at $7.2 billion, and China was next with $5.4 billion. But because this report focused on the amount per computer, The United States didn’t make the list. Topping the list was Azerbaijan with over $250 of pirated software per computer, and following behind was Iceland with over $200 of pirated software per computer. In total, the cost of piracy in Iceland was $32 million, however that’s divided among few computers in comparison to the $7.2 billion divided among all computers in the United States.
The report stated that piracy cost the software industry $39.6 billion dollars, as in lost revenue, however those that choose to pirate probably wouldn’t ever purchase the software in the first place if pirating wasn’t an option. Can it really be considered lost revenue then?
Source: Economist.com [via Digg]
I’m surprised India didn’t figure – there’s rampant use of unlicensed software here as far as home PCs are concerned. Most people buy “assembled” (unbranded) PCs which are considerably cheaper than branded ones and the guy who sells them will pre-load pretty much any software you ask him for. The people who go in for branded machines generally run a legit copy of Windows (bundled with the machine) and pirated copies of everything else.
The only ones (relatively) honest are the corporates, partly coz they’re the targets of occasional crackdowns.
I wouldn’t give these stats much credibility.
It would be an interesting study to see how many “pirates” would, in fact, buy software if it was reasonably priced. The software industry are morons. Much like other industries. They don’t understand that they price themselves out of the market and attract and create piracy. Yes, they create their own problem.
Go figure.
I agree, Slasher. If the software was priced where you don’t need to go on Welfare, there would be less pirating.
It is pretty funny if you think about it though. Companies say that the high prices are often due to widespread piracy, so they raise the prices more. Then less people want to purchase the software so they pirate it, and then it gets raised more. Lather, rinse, repeat…
How ridiculous is that idea? Software is priced by how much the market will pay for it, not by how many people don’t pay for it. That’s pure crazy talk.
I definitely dont’ have any proof of that, but I have a sneaky suspicion that if no one pirated Windows that it would cost less.
I totally disagree. It’s all supply and demand. If not a single copy of Windows was pirated Microsoft would still change the maximum amount that they could. That’s just how a free market economy works.
What may happen is that since Microsoft has a few extra billion dollars in the bank maybe the would spend more time and money on making their software better but not cheaper.
What happened to making a quality product at a reasonable price? Now it’s how cheap can they make the product and how much they can get for it. Hey if they can make a pencil for 5 cents and people are willing to pay $100 for a pencil it will sell for $100.
There will always be some dumb shit willing to pay way to much. That screws the rest of us. Most computer programs are way over priced. I can’t affor the average priced computer program and they wonder why people pirate software. I live pay check to pay check. Sometimes I don’t have very much left over for food let alone pay $150 or more for Windows OS.
They do still offer a version for $100, which is reasonable. While I think that Windows is overpriced we also don’t know how much time and money Microsoft put into making it. It was in the works for several years, and if you think about the salary for all of the developers they obviously need to make some money somehow. Of course you’ll also be paying for advertising, which Microsoft does a lot of.