Software Piracy :: essays research papers

Software PiracyWhat is Software PiracyThe PC industry is just over 20 years old. In those 20 years, both the timberand quantity of available software programs have increased dramatically.Although approximately 70% of the worldwide market is today supplied bydevelopers in the United States, significant evolution work is occurring inscores of nations around the world. But in both the United States and abroad,unauthorized copy of personal computer software is a salutary problem. Onaverage, for every authorized copy of personal computer software in use, atleast iodine unauthorized copy is made. Unauthorized copying is known as softwarepiracy, and in 1994 it cost the software industry in excess of US$15 billion.Piracy is wide practiced and widely tolerated. In some countries, legalprotection for software is nonexistent (i.e., Kuwait) in others, laws areunclear (i.e. Israel), or not enforced with sufficient commitment (i.e., thePRC). meaningful piracy losses are suffered in virtually every region of theworld. In some areas (i.e., Indonesia), the rate of unauthorized copies isbelieved to be in excess of 99%.Why do People Use Pirated Software?A major reason for the use of pirated software is the prices of theREAL thing. Just walk into a CompUSA, Electronics Boutique, computer City,Egghead, etc and you pull up stakes notice the expensive price tags on copies of the mostcommonly used programs and the hottest games. Take the recent Midwest Microholiday catalogue for pattern and notice the prices. Microsoft Windows 95 $94,Microsoft Office 95 $224, Microsoft Visual C++ $250, Borland C++ $213, CorelDraw 7 $229, Corel Office Professional 7 $190, Lotus Smartsuite 96 $150,Microsoft feather Simulator95 $50, Warcraft 2 $30. The list goes on and on andthe prices for the programs listed above were only upgrade versions. Users ofthe software listed above include anywhere from large companies like AT&T toyourself, the average user at home. Although a $30 game like Warcraft 2 doesntseem like much, by the time you finish reading this paper, it will seem like afortune.Ease of AvailabilitySince the law states clearly that making a copy of what you ownand distributing it or installing more than one copy of one piece of software ontwo separate computers is illegal, then why do the average Joes like you and usstill do it? There are many answers to that question and all of them seemlegitimate except that no answers can be legally justified. A friend getanother friends Corel draw or Windows 95 to install on their own PC is socommon that the issue of piracy probably doesnt even pass off to mind right away or