Shutting down the pirate software

Lionel Wijesiri

The issue of software piracy has been a hot topic for several years in Sri Lanka. Not so long ago, we were ranked with the sixth highest piracy rate in the world and the second highest in Asia. Up to a year ago, pirated software was available freely in markets around the country. Last year the Government took a number of steps to increase its compliance with international piracy laws, and according to a recent study, its efforts have begun to pay off.

Microsoft is rich

Of those whom I know who use pirated software, a common excuse given is that Microsoft is already so rich, there is no reason one should pay such a high price for something they can get for a fraction of the retail price. There are two parts to this argument and both are unsound, firstly, the software vendor should charge a suitable fee proportionate to its wealth and secondly software prices should be cheap.

Just because a company is rich does not mean that it does not deserve to charge a suitable price for its products. Companies or individuals should not be faulted by their success. Whether Microsoft got rich through just and legal means, it still does not make it right to pirate their software and use them.

On the other hand, while Microsoft is the favourite punch-bag, it is not the only company whose software is being pirated. Consumers will happily pirate from companies like Adobe, AutoCAD, MacAfee, Norton etc. or from lesser known companies as well. Games are also pirated frequently and some game writers are not necessarily rich, but their games get pirated nonetheless. So Microsoft may be a major target due to its market share but the very act of piracy is not and cannot be justified by its success.

It is too pricy

Again, as in the first case, many who use pirated software like to point out that Microsoft products are expensive. Paying Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 35,000 for a retail set of Windows Vista may seem high priced, but if you consider that one could potentially use say Windows XP even today, it means that the retail price is good for at least five years.

Amortising the retail price of Rs 30,000 over five years means that it cost Rs. 6,000 a year. When is the last time you did something with Rs. 6,000? Maybe five years is a long stretch, let’s stretch it over three years. This would come to Rs. 10,000 a year.

It’s not that expensive.

Another argument put forward claims that software manufacturers over-charge even for third-world countries with no concessions given.

This point is wrong. In China and many third-world countries, Microsoft has different pricing schemes supposedly tuned to the local economies.

However, we have no right to question about their Global Pricing Policy even if you think their system is ‘crazy.’

We have no choice

Well, actually we do. While one may think that piracy is the only solution to software usage, it is not. For example, you can use Linux (http://www.linux.org) as a substitute for Windows, which has the advantage of a Unix-like operating system to make your workflow more efficient.

You can use OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org) instead of MSOffice. You can use Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/) for all other software you need. In ubuntu you have the Word processor, Spreadsheet and Presentation and a vast library of software needed for the average computer user. All these software are free and work very well. The moral of the story is that life without Microsoft or Adobe or Norton can also be stress free and maybe, even more challenging.