Software Piracy
We’ve all done it…in one form or another right?…borrowed 60 stiffy discs to copy Wolfenstein from your mates best friends neighbours commodore computer?
Yeah, well things have gotten waaay worse since then. A report by Business Software Alliance showed that thirty-five percent of all software installed on PC’s is pirated! 35%! Thats a crap load! The losses therefrom? $29-33 billion dollars!
The countries that are most at fault are Vietnam, Ukraine, China, and Zimbabwe. A monstrous 90% of software installed in those countries is illegal software.
Other stats are:
United States: 21%
New Zealand: 23%
United Kingdom: 27%
Austria and Sweden bring in the rear with the lowest percentage of pirated software.
I’m proud to say that I have a legal copy of Windows XP Professional & MS Office XP, but clearly, there’s a massive problem with sneaky bastards trying to save a few quid.
Are there any rising solutions to this problem? I heard a rumor of the new Windows systems being hardwired into the PC’s chip and any re-installs must be done by MS Certified companies. That could solve it I reckon…or at least make it harder for Joe Dick on the street to make a copy. I suppose the logistical costs of setting up MS Certified offices in every country and city in the world, would still be less then the losses currently being incurred.
But for now, shame, I guess of Bill is going to have to settle for margarine instead of butter.
