Software pirates - not entirely to blame?  



                                by B Harper


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   I have read with interest the various articles that have been written
  about piracy over the years.  Programmers, users and people from every
  other part of the software spectrum have put in their two cents worth, with
  the general consensus being that while it is the wrong thing to do, it is
  nonetheless flourishing, both in Australia and around the world.  Now I
  agree that pirating is wrong.  I can see that if people don't pay for the
  software, those who produce the software are going to lose money, which
  they recuperate by bumping up their prices, making the legitimate user lose
  out in the long run.  What I don't agree with, however, is that the users
  are entirely to blame.  I would now like to point out a few facts which I
  think would sway someone's decision to pirate software.

The price of piracy - a different perspective.

   First and foremost is the price.  Let's face it - software is expensive.
  Games start at about $60, and productivity software... well, it's more a
  case of where they stop.  Now I realise that it's probably the piracy which
  is pushing the prices to these levels in the first place, but surely if
  they came down people would be more inclined to buy.  I'm sure it doesn't
  cost $60 to produce each disk, box and manual which make up the game, and I
  for one would be more inclined to buy software if it was reasonably
  priced.  And while we're on the subject, why does our software cost so much
  compared to overseas?  Even after taking into account exchange rates and so
  forth, there is still quite a steep price hike when they get here.

The customers aren't the only ones who need help!

   This is just one of the reasons I don't buy much software these days.
  Another reason I don't purchase everything I see is because of the attitude
  of some software suppliers.  How many of you see an item of clothing you
  like on the rack, pick it up, and immediately head to the checkouts?  No,
  you try it on first, don't you?  Make sure it's what you really want.  I'd
  like to think I can do the same with any software I'm thinking of buying,
  but it is rarely the case.  The excuses range from the sublime to the
  ridiculous.  It's against the policy of the store, we're not allowed to
  open sealed packages, there's no member of staff available.  One store
  didn't even have a machine to show it on.  I'm sorry everyone, but if I'm
  going to be forking out hundreds of dollars for a piece of software, I want
  to make sure it's what I want.  And if you can't show me that it is, then
  no sale.  Now why would you put up with all of this when you can get a copy
  from so-and-so up the road?

Putting the hard back into hard drives.

   Actually, this happens a lot when I ask to see software running off a hard
  drive.  Being told that the program works the same off floppy disks only
  faster is not good enough these days.  Look at the Leisure Suit Larry
  series - these run like a dog from floppies, and almost as slow from a hard
  drive.  And some programs, like Links, actually need to be installed on one
  before they can be run at all.  But despite the computer shop having IBM's
  latest 486 with 120 megabyte hard drive and everything which opens and
  shuts attached to it, all they have for the Amiga owner as a demonstration
  model is a stock-standard Amiga 500.  No hard drive, no 2.0 operating
  system, and no mouse either, most of the time.  Sorry folks, but the same
  rule applies.  No try, no buy.

Copyright - what right?

   Then again, you can't really blame them.  After all, how many games (and
  that's what most places seem to be selling these days, unfortunately) can
  be installed on a hard drive?  Not many, I can tell you.  What's worse is
  that some games which can in fact be installed have no such indication on
  their boxes, which of course is all you can look at because they're wrapped
  in plastic and can't be opened.  So you have to rely on the salesman's
  knowledge when he tells you whether it can be installed or not.  I've
  struck more than one occasion when that knowledge was false.  Instead of
  finding an install icon to click, I was greeted with alerts from my machine
  saying the disk was unreadable and the bootblock could be infected with a
  virus.  Resigning to the fact that I would never be playing the game off my
  hard drive, I decided to make a backup of the disk and keep the original in
  a safe place.  Strike two, Bill!  This disk has got more protection than
  the safe sex campaign.  Not even my version of X-COPY with the "Adaptive
  Pulse Width Modulation" (hardware) mode could copy it.  And so I've only
  played it about a dozen times for fear of damaging it.  Then there's the
  pirated version.  It's been "cracked", so it is now one large file with no
  nasty protection schemes.  You can copy it with any anything and play it
  from anywhere.  Now which one would you rather have?

Going overseas for the latest.

   Before I had my hard drive I was forever trying to put as many programs on
  my workbench disk as possible.  Even after installing the ARP DOS commands,
  getting rid of printer drivers and keymaps I didn't need, there still
  wasn't enough room for the utilities I used almost constantly.  Then I
  found a public domain version of PowerPacker (2.3b) and my life changed
  forever.  These days I tend to leave most of my files uncrunched to
  eliminate decrunching time.  But there are still some programs I leave
  crunched (those I use on the odd occasion, like Preferences) and I am
  forever decrunching public domain programs before putting them on my hard
  disk.  For these reasons I am still using PowerPacker, and have now
  upgraded to version four.  But it's not as happy a decision as it should
  have been.  When I decided to upgrade from version three, I asked the
  person I bought it from how I would go about doing so.  He consulted his
  colleagues, and informed that I would have to send it back to UGA Software
  in Holland.  I quickly decided the forty dollars to buy the new version
  would save me a lot of hassles with postage, payment, etc.  Why couldn't I
  send my disk to someone in Australia to get my upgrade, rather than
  overseas?  If every piece of software had an Australian dealer who handled
  these kind of things, I for one would be more willing to buy software.  As
  it stands, it is far easier to avoid the hassles of dealing with foreign
  currency and playing the waiting game, and simply pick up a pirated copy of
  the latest release from somewhere else.

Fact or fiction?

   So there you have it - my theories on why people might pirate rather than
  purchase software.  They may not solve the problem, but they would
  certainly leave the pirates without a moral leg to stand on.



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