I have to say sorry before all, because most likely you’ll find typos and grammar mistakes in this post. Unfortunately I have yet to receive my new glasses so I’m typing basically blind.
Bad alliteration in the title, it should have been “pirated software“ but it didn’t sound as good.
I was thinking earlier today who is really paying the price of pirated software in the world of today; we all know that the main entity losing from pirated software is, of course, the software’s publisher and developer. And of course most of them, starting from Microsoft, try their best to reverse the game, saying that the cost is mostly on the user itself (remember Windows Genuine Advantage?). I know this is going to be a flamethrower, but I happen to agree with them nowadays.
Let me explain my point: when you use pirate software, you end up not updating the software at all (‘cause you either have no valid serial code, or you have a crack that would go away); and this include security vulnerabilities, that often enough, for Windows at least, lead to virus infecting the system. And of course, the same problem applies, recursively, to antivirus software. And this is without counting the way most of that software is procured (eMule, torrents, and so on… — note that I have ethical uses of torrent sites for which I’d like at least some sites to be kept alive), which is often the main highway for viruses to infect systems.
So there is already an use case for keep legit with all the software; there is one more reason why you, a Linux enthusiast, should also make sure that your friends and family don’t use pirate software: Windows (as well as Linux, but that’s another topic) botnets send spam to you as well!
Okay, so what’s the solution? Microsoft – obviously – wants everybody to spend money on their licenses (and in Italy they cost twice as much; I had to buy a Microsoft Office 2007 Professional license – don’t ask – in Italy it was at €622 plus VAT; from Amazon UK it was €314, with VAT reimbursed; and Office is multi-language enabled, so there is not even the problem of Italian vs. English). I don’t entirely agree with that; I think that those who really need to use proprietary software that costs, should probably be paying for it, this will give them one more reason to want a free alternative. All the rest, should be replaced with Free (or at least free) alternatives.
So for instance, when a friend/customer is using proprietary software, I tend to replace it along these lines: Nero can be replaced with InfraRecorder (I put this first because it’s the least known); Office with the well-known OpenOffice and Photoshop with Gimp (when there are no needs for professional editing at least).
The main issue here is that I find a lot of Free Software enthusiasts who seem to accept, and foster pirate software; sorry I’m not along those lines, at all. And this is because I loathe proprietary software, not because I like it! I just don’t like being taken for an hypocrite.