How To Fight And Win Against Software Piracy

Fighting software piracy is like trying to teach a person to stop breathing, or telling a child to stop playing. It's impossible to fight it by calling in the cavalry, seizing thousands or millions of cd's and equipments and arresting some technicians who were taught by their bosses to do the burning.

Software piracy must be attacked head-on, corporations being attacked must hit back, CEO's must face the music and make plans to destroy and kill. Serial codes, cd-keys, or any type of software protection are useless! It makes the life of the legit person harder and it doesn't even slow down software pirates. I believe that most corporations who don't understand this are those who have bosses or directors who are either NOT tech savvy or are ignorant of REAL technology. Having the latest cell phone or iPhone, or the coolest PDA, or an 8 megapixel digital camera, or even a very high-end quad-core desktop or notebook system with a 32" LCD screen, doesn't make you a TRUE tech person and it certainly doesn't mean you understand software technology. You are only a TRUE owner and not a TRUE tech-ie.

Most corporations fight competition by creating better quality products, buffing up support, beefing up marketing, throwing in freebies, improving the prices, etc. etc. Attacking software piracy must be handled the same way corporations compete in the business sense. Corporations have to beef up support and spend on marketing, but the freebies and prices must be reviewed because most current day standards are, in my opinion, not enough to battle piracy.

After-support software freebies are usually in the form of updates, upgrades, patches, add-on's, templates, manuals, firmware, etc. Hard copy freebies usually come with the box, these are in the forms of cd's, manuals, statues, trial codes for other software products, rebates, discount coupons, and for games there are pets, equipment upgrades, character upgrades, and sometimes a kick-ass container like the Helmet of the Master Chief that comes with Halo 3.

All the Hard copy freebies I mentioned in the last paragraph DO NOT affect those who advocate piracy! Pirates don't care about the cd's since they can burn their own. They don't care about the manuals, I mean dudes, who really reads manuals these days? Statues can be bought in eBay, along with special boxes, and we all know that upgrade codes can be easily Google'd.

What pirates do care about are updates, upgrades, patches, add-on's, and firmwares, and mostly because their fans, those who download their work, demand it. Being a pirate is not the heartless, inhuman persona that is commonly thought by most legit software users. In fact, pirates care about their fans just like an actor or actress cares about theirs. Fame and power is their driving force, not money. Therefore to make their life more difficult to the point where they might eventually get tired of pirating, I strongly believe that security should be concentrated with down-loadable freebies, namely updates, upgrades, patches, add-on's, and firmwares.

The second step in battling piracy is by attacking the opportunists who downloads the pirate's warez and re-burns them for retail distribution. Last I heard, piracy is a multi-billion dollar industry, and this multi-billion figure is achieved even with selling pirated software with prices as low as US$1 per cd or dvd. Software corporations must come out with cheaper prices to battle pirates. Like I mentioned earlier, pirates don't care about aesthetics, so maybe their products can be re-packaged with NO casing, just a sleeve or thin piece of plastic, maybe with NO other printed material except for the package print. Maybe these cheaper packaged software can be sold to home user pirates, which I believe is the majority of them, and I'm sure if the prices are low enough people would rather buy them than download a pirated copy or buy a bootleg one.

Asia is infamous for software piracy, many Americans or Europeans tend to forget that the majority of the worlds population earn less than US$500 a year. Here in the Philippines, where the minimum wage is around US$2000/annum, Halo 3 is worth 2 weeks wages, Office 2007 is worth 2 months wages, and a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate is equivalent to 4 months wages. In China, last I heard, Halo 3 is worth 2 months wages, Office 2007 is worth 8 months wages, and Windows Vista Ultimate is equivalent to 16 months wages. Imagine, after buying a few original games, one Chinese gamer can file for bankruptcy within the year.

I've heard and read that SOME software companies, like Microsoft, sell their products at lower rates in Asia, versus the prices in the US or parts of Europe. Well if that's true, I guess the Philippines is not included in that special price bracket.

I hope one day those closed minded software corporations CEO's and directors will open their eyes and consider adjusting their business policies for the betterment of all.

Piracy is a product of economic difference between the makers and the users. It won't be solved by jacking up the prices or pumping it with security. Let go of the blings and pizzaz, make your products more affordable and maybe then you can really start battling piracy.