question: why pirate? Options

[*kryogenix*]

I'm studying Computer Science, so hopefully I can become a computer programmer. But, I'm a bit scared that I won't be able to eat.

Why?

Piracy.

I hear things about people pirating this, bragging about how they found cracks for photoshop, not fearing the legal issues and the works.

Piracy screws over the people making the product. When you download a copy of software in place of legitimately buying it, you are taking away profit of the company. Yes, I've heard the argument that "they make millions, it's ok if those greedy companies lose a few thousand dollars." You're right. Some companies don't need the extra money and should be punished for their greed *coughMicrosoftcough*, but not all companies are like this.

Why do this to Adobe? Photoshop is probably the most famous image editing program, but it's not the only one. People have told me that they pirate photoshop so that they can learn to design graphics without having to pay hundreds of dollars upfront. But you don't have to pirate software to learn how to design graphics. There are cheaper and even free alternatives to photoshop, but people still pirate.

So my question is why?

[comeupon]

I'm studying Computer Science, so hopefully I can become a computer programmer. But, I'm a bit scared that I won't be able to eat.

Why?

Piracy.

I hear things about people pirating this, bragging about how they found cracks for photoshop, not fearing the legal issues and the works.

Piracy screws over the people making the product. When you download a copy of software in place of legitimately buying it, you are taking away profit of the company. Yes, I've heard the argument that "they make millions, it's ok if those greedy companies lose a few thousand dollars." You're right. Some companies don't need the extra money and should be punished for their greed *coughMicrosoftcough*, but not all companies are like this.

Why do this to Adobe? Photoshop is probably the most famous image editing program, but it's not the only one. People have told me that they pirate photoshop so that they can learn to design graphics without having to pay hundreds of dollars upfront. But you don't have to pirate software to learn how to design graphics. There are cheaper and even free alternatives to photoshop, but people still pirate.

So my question is why?

My parents became computer programmers when we just moved here. We had little money and basically no assets. Piracy wont hurt you as much as the current depletion of computer positions. With computer programmer's salaries cut nearly in half in recent years. The truth piracy dosnt hurt anyone but the people doing it. Though my parents always bring home pirated versions on .net and visual basic. The truth is the people who start pirating things are the people who have no need too. When my mom worked at Microsoft she would recieve free software updates and hardware upgrades, these were not official disks though, but rather unofficial copies that were handed down to team leaders. It starts out as just a goodie to put on your home PC so you can work from home but quickly turns into a long chain.

[sadolakced acid]

because i like to sample music before i buy.

i've bought... 3 of the 5 albums i have pirated songs of.

[mechwarrior1989]

IMHO there's no need to worry about software piracy, why? Because most of the time you'll be working for a large company and as such, they pay your wages, most of the time the people who download the programs didn't have money to purchase it in the first place, so are you losing a sale? No, you're gaining a customer. It is through word of mouth that these people heard of these programs being good, it's like free advertising. The pirate realize, hey this is a good piece of software and they tell their friends. Eventurally someone without the knowledge of how to pirate will just go out and buy the software. The company doesn't lose money when someone downloads the software illegally. They don't even lose revenue. Since as I said above, most of the people who download wouldn't have bought the software in the first place since they either don't have the money, or didn't need it. But now that they do have it, they can expirament with it. Other large companies and such will still buy your software because if they were to obtain it illegally you're company could sue them and you'd still be better off than before. The software itself doesn't cost the company all that much and as such they make loads for each one they sell. Photoshop has the adobe name so it is well known, as such they can jack the price up because people recognize it as a legitamite graphics editing program. Same with macromedia and their dreamweaver, fireworks, flash, and all that stuff.

[micron]

kryogenix,
your main concern shouldnt be piracy but the outsourcing of it jobs to countries with lower wages. as the argument goes, why pay 20$ an hour for a us programmer when you can get one as competent in india for 1$.

as for piracy, you have to remember that it is usually the teenagers that engage in piracy, kids that dont have money to buy the software product in the first place. through piracy, kids obtain the software, and become familiar and perhaps even love the software, which will dictate their software preference once they go out in the workforce working for a corporation which all have strict adherance to anti-piracy measures.

now the question is, why do kids grow up with certain preferences of software over others in the same field? because of familiarity, which more or less is made possible through piracy. so in this case, piracy can become the deciding factor of a kids potential software revenues. ofcourse tell this to the software companies and theyll all bulk, but i for one, if i am ever to become a programmer (i wont), i will be chugging code in ms visual studios, because early on, i obtained a copy of it through a friend and used it ever since as my main programming ide. sure theres other great products, borland, eclipse, but ive come to become familiar and love vstudio, and vstudio i will stick in the workplace.

[*kryogenix*]

kryogenix,
your main concern shouldnt be piracy but the outsourcing of it jobs to countries with lower wages. as the argument goes, why pay 20$ an hour for a us programmer when you can get one as competent in india for 1$.

/me shrugs

I know this, it's just that when I ask the question "why pirate?" people ask me why i care.

Anyway, I've been convinced by parents/friends/the news/gut instinct not to become a programmer, I just said that at the beginning for effect.

as for piracy, you have to remember that it is usually the teenagers that engage in piracy, kids that dont have money to buy the software product in the first place. through piracy, kids obtain the software, and become familiar and perhaps even love the software, which will dictate their software preference once they go out in the workforce working for a corporation which all have strict adherance to anti-piracy measures.

Student editions are usually cheaper. If I don't have money to buy bread, should I steal it? However, if there is a substitute for bread that is free, why not take it?

now the question is, why do kids grow up with certain preferences of software over others in the same field? because of familiarity, which more or less is made possible through piracy. so in this case, piracy can become the deciding factor of a kids potential software revenues. ofcourse tell this to the software companies and theyll all bulk, but i for one, if i am ever to become a programmer (i wont), i will be chugging code in ms visual studios, because early on, i obtained a copy of it through a friend and used it ever since as my main programming ide. sure theres other great products, borland, eclipse, but ive come to become familiar and love vstudio, and vstudio i will stick in the workplace.

Vstudio would be my choice if I could afford it. But since I can't, i'm stuck with MinGW.

Now I understand and empathize a little better. Companies say "experince with <insert software here> is a plus" when hiring, so I can see why people prefer certain software over others. But still, is this a good reason to steal?

[ryanoman]

I'm guessing you don't pirate any software with saying that.

I have a trial of Photoshop CS, and I'll admit, I'm planning on getting it another way after my trial runs out, maybe by cracking it. You have a good point about stealing and pirating stuff. It is wrong, that's the bottom line, but I won't make any money off of my graphics. Adobe knows people pirate their software... but they make so much money... they don't seem to be worried.

That's all I have to say. This is an opinion question.

[*kryogenix*]

I'm guessing you don't pirate any software with saying that.

I have a trial of Photoshop CS, and I'll admit, I'm planning on getting it another way after my trial runs out, maybe by cracking it. You have a good point about stealing and pirating stuff. It is wrong, that's the bottom line, but I won't make any money off of my graphics. Adobe knows people pirate their software... but they make so much money... they don't seem to be worried.

That's all I have to say. This is an opinion question.

Have you given Paint Shop Pro a try? The Gimp? Paint.net?

The latter two are free, PSP is cheap compared to photoshop.

http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/
http://www.gimp.org/
http://www.jasc.com/products/paintshoppro/

[KissMe2408]

You're asking why people pirate photoshop? lol, well....instead of paying 600$ dollars for the software, they can get it for free just by downloading it illegally. And sure, there are free programs out there to learn how to edit photographs, but they don't have the reputation as Photoshop does....and so they can be like, "yah i have ps" and they get the same program without having to pay 600 bucks for it. It's wrong sure, I mean i just bought my photoshop legally for 600, and then some guy was like, "why didn't you just download it for free?" yah i could of...but still.....it's just not the same.

[*mipadi*]

It really comes down to a moral decision: Do companies have a right to take away your consumer rights by strangling you with licenses?

Of course, I don't advocate pirating commercial/proprietary software; rather, I'd encourage the use of free software, rather than proprietary software.