Piracy is Social Service

[Aberforth]

Software Piracy

Personally I am of a mixed opinion about piracy and legal software.I try my best to use legal software where I can afford it and free software where I can't. For example I got Windows XP with my laptop which is fine; OpenOffice is my office suite, more than enough for me, Avast Antivirus, CD Burner XP Pro instead of Nero,et. el. I was a proud user of a computer without a single pirated software...until the time came.

But when I went into a all legal revolution I faced many bottlenecks. My IT papers are based on MS Office. In that case if I answer my exams on OpenOffice ,I'd fail. So to get practice I was forced to get MS Office, pirated of course as I can't afford it in any case. Some companies advertise knowledge of Adobe Photoshop for a graphics artist. If a person goes in and tells the interviewers he/she used GIMP he doesn't get selected. I ask, is a person with GIMP experience worse than a person with a pirated Adboe Photoshop experience? I had convinced a friend to get off using pirates MS Office in his cybercafe and install open office instead. He did and everytime someone came for a printing/typing job, he/she'd ask for MS Office. Now most of them wouldn't understand OpenOffice is nearly same as MS Office in interface. He ended up losing a lot of customers to neighbouring competitors with pirated MS Office and finally ended up back to where he was - my advice backfired. Piracy has entered so much into the blood of Indians (including many corporates) that a person using only open source/legal software finds himself/herself at a disadvantage than people using pirated software.

So if we are to fight piracy, it does not help persecuting home consumers, after all they are at the end of a system. We should try to educate universities, IT Institutions, corporates to encourage using free softwares. If open source/free softwares become default softwares in institutions instead of proprietary softwares it would remove the learning curve and hence get better acceptance of free software.

Movie Piracy

I'll tell my experiences about this. I was a staunch anti-pirate when movies are concerned. Some months back I got Harry Potter DVD from Planet M for Rs.699/-. I liked the movie and didn't want to get it pirated. I wanted to back up this movie on my computer but the copy protection thing wouldn't let it work. After a few days of use between me and my friends it got scratched and wouldn't play. I was so frustrated. There was no way I could get it to work so my Rs.699 went to waste. Then one of my geeky friends showed me a method to crack the copyright protection and rip the DVD using a software. The simplicity made me even more frustrated. The pirated DVDs come without RCE or copy protection which means the person who buys it is in a win win situation. I, a genuine movie DVD buyer in this case suffered, lost quite some money which I could rather have used buying myself a good set of headphones.....I am after all a student and my budget isn't big. It is ironic, the genuine buyers suffer as they can't back it up because of copy protection, the pirate break this copy protection and rip the DVD.

Second incident occured when I got the Narnia DVD. I got the DVD for Rs.499 (a promotional offer from a reputed music store in Delhi) and went home happily, popped it in and then it wouldn't work. Whatever software I tried, Windows Media Player, VLC Player, it simply wouldn't work. Then I went to a friends' PC who had a host of DVD player softwares including Power DVD and still no help. I came to the conclusion - the DVD is corrupted. I went back with the DVD for replacement - the reply of the saleman - "The company doesn't have any warranty on DVDs". I was hurt, I spent Rs.499 on nothing, I am not a rich guy (I am a student, remember?). I just thought it over. If I got a pirated DVD for ~ Rs.50 and if it didn't work I could have just desposed it and got another one and yeah those dealers in the shop offer replacement too if it doesn't work. This two incidents made me go for movie piracy, even if I go knee deep to go legal in movies, the company doesn't give a damn about me. It keeps methods which frustrates a genuine buyer like me and benefits pirates.

Originally Posted by DeSmOnD dAvId

Microsoft has helped by Introducing Windows XP Starter Edition for India. Who thinks it will curb piracy?? Pirates will crack it and distribute it freely too.

Did you actually try out Windows Starter Edition? I would rather use Damn Small Linux from my pen drive than it, it is the best example of crippleware.

Originally Posted by anandk

stealing clothes bcoz u dont have somethin to wear;
or food because u r hungry;
or plain rape bcoz u like someone...

If a person doesn't have clothes to wear, I'd rather he stole clothes than walk on the streets naked, not a good sight.

I'd support stealing food too, if you're hungry and no one gives you anything to eat or the food is unaffordable.

I don't think raping is a display of affection if you like someone. It has more to do with a criminal intent or mind or degradation of women.

[Tech Geek]

everything else except Windows XP are pirated.

[kirtan]

piracy can never be social sevice.how can u term it this way?honestly speaking how many of you guys have the money to spend on expensive hardware but can't find a few thousand rupees to buy a geniune os.you just can't justify the fact that u are using a pirated software.

[iMav]

i am all for movie piracy .... we are left at the mercy of the producers and the theatre owners who charge at own will ..... which i am against ...

software piracy hell it shud be there ...... i mean i am no photoshop professional but i still require it sometimes for making my sigs, wallpapers, etc ..... sala uske liye thousands of ruppees kaun spend karega

game piracy ..... hmmmm i am waiting when carbon will be available for dwnld on the net

music piracy ..... i dont want to buy an entire album for just 1 song ..... so y not dwnld what i want to listen and then if it is available for free y pay !!!

piracy is a bad thing v shud not indulge in it