Your opinion on pirating windows

[Droogie]

Warez are my friends.

 

[Kesava]

It's illegal. I've never pirated it. And it's not worth it. You can't do updates and stuff when u need to, its just retarded, just go ahead and buy it. Go ahead and pirate whatever else though (just keep that news to urself).

Actually, money wise, it is worth it.
And I've never had any trouble with updates or anything. If you haven't pirated it then how can you say that? Unless you have heard somewhere that you can't update pirated versions of windows. Which is not true.

 

[Vizy]

I don't think I have ever paid for software, and the only games I have ever paid for were Audiosurf and The Orange Box. The rest, such as OS's, Music, Games, Porn and so on, I have pirated. There have been times when I have bought the CD of a local band because they actually need the money to support themselves.

I don't have the money to buy games, so it's not like I am just downloading them for free when I could be buying them. The makers aren't loosing money from me deciding to download the game instead. Because if I wasn't able to download it, I wouldn't buy it anyway.

That doesn't make it the right thing to do though.

Even though the manufacturers are making huge profits from the sales and your little download doesnt seem to hurt them at all, it also doesn't make it right.

Wow, u better edit that though. I received an infraction for saying something similiar to ur first paragraph.

 

[Kesava]

Wow, u better edit that though. I received an infraction for saying something similiar to ur first paragraph.

Haha it would still be there in your quote. good thinking

Anyway. If I actually had a decent income I would quite happily pay for software and so on. Except for software such as Solidworks which is like 10k or so isn't it? haha

 

[coleman]

pirating is pirating weather it be an OS or software it is all the same. i think different people will have different opinions, if you can afford to bump up the price of your build then yeah get a legit os, however for toughs who don't have much money, sometimes pirating software and OS systems is the only choice.

 

[patrickv]

I don't think I have ever paid for software, and the only games I have ever paid for were Audiosurf and The Orange Box. The rest, such as OS's, Music, Games, Porn and so on, I have pirated. If possible I will usually use freeware alternatives such as open office and VLC player and so on.

wow
you must be the supreme commander of pirates

I don't have the money to buy games

i do have money to buy games and software but they ain't available like any other country

Warez are my friends.

lol mine too hehe

 

[tlarkin]

I can't say that I feel sorry for you when your system crashes or you get a virus from using crappy pirated software.

It is stealing no matter how you look at it, the only difference is people can't understand the concept of stealing something non tangible. Lines of code can't be touched or processed in the sense that we humans think of stealing an actual object. Stealing a wallet or a car is a physical thing you can touch and feel, stealing lines of code in an application is something we don't parallel to such ideas.

If you can't afford it perhaps you shouldn't have it. I mean if you can't afford to own a car does that give you the right to steal one for yourself? If you can't afford to own a home, should you be able to steal and squat in one for free?

 

[gamerman4]

I can't say that I feel sorry for you when your system crashes or you get a virus from using crappy pirated software.

It is stealing no matter how you look at it, the only difference is people can't understand the concept of stealing something non tangible. Lines of code can't be touched or processed in the sense that we humans think of stealing an actual object. Stealing a wallet or a car is a physical thing you can touch and feel, stealing lines of code in an application is something we don't parallel to such ideas.

If you can't afford it perhaps you shouldn't have it. I mean if you can't afford to own a car does that give you the right to steal one for yourself? If you can't afford to own a home, should you be able to steal and squat in one for free?

It isn't that it is non-tangible, it is that it is copyable data. If a Ferrari could just be copy and pasted to everyone in the world, no one would buy them either. Also the big businesses really aren't losing any money but do stand to gain more money from pirating. Those that pirate often are too poor/cheap to ever actually buy the software so the company doesn't actually have any lost revenue from most (most, not all) pirates. People pirate $10,000 software, software that they would never need but they want to play with it and make fun things (3DS Max is often pirated). The flipside is that it is basically free advertising for them. Even photoshop, possibly one of the most pirated pieces of software ever stands to gain because the more people that have it, the more people that want it and the more likely they will buy it. Movie pirating doesn't make much of a dent either. The majority of profits from movies come from the first few weeks in theaters and those first few weeks, often the pirated movies look too bad to watch so the pirates go to the theaters anyways.

 

[atentora]

Don't forget spore though, that was a game the lost considerable profit because of pirating. They did kinda bring it upon themselves though...

 

[tlarkin]

It isn't that it is non-tangible, it is that it is copyable data. If a Ferrari could just be copy and pasted to everyone in the world, no one would buy them either. Also the big businesses really aren't losing any money but do stand to gain more money from pirating. Those that pirate often are too poor/cheap to ever actually buy the software so the company doesn't actually have any lost revenue from most (most, not all) pirates. People pirate $10,000 software, software that they would never need but they want to play with it and make fun things (3DS Max is often pirated). The flipside is that it is basically free advertising for them. Even photoshop, possibly one of the most pirated pieces of software ever stands to gain because the more people that have it, the more people that want it and the more likely they will buy it. Movie pirating doesn't make much of a dent either. The majority of profits from movies come from the first few weeks in theaters and those first few weeks, often the pirated movies look too bad to watch so the pirates go to the theaters anyways.

The fact that it is non tangible gives people the morals that it isn't really stealing is my whole point. Also, your point about them not losing money I already made but they are in fact losing money. If you spend hours writing code for a software product to have it sell 1 million copies and have 400,000 additional copies be pirated you are at a loss for that money.

It isn't free advertising either, because the end user who pirated such products aren't going to be in charge of purchasing mass licenses for a company. You pirate and use 3DsMax and learn it, then get a real job and they decide to use Maya instead at your place of work. While, it does make them familiar with the product but it doesn't guarantee any type of future purchasing from that company.

If you can't afford it you probably shouldn't have it, that is just how the free market and capitalism works. There are other factors involved that I have already mentioned which would turn the market into a better place and make consumers more driven to purchase a product over pirating it.

When steam banned like 80,000 pirated copies of HL 2 I LOL'd because those people should pay for the product. After all, in the end how much is $40 anyway? I mean if you can't save $40 in a month you have no business buying anything anyway, and probably need to budget yourself better.

The problem is not that people can't afford it, it is most of them, at least here in the USA are just idiots with their money. They borrow too much to spend on credit and can never pay it off, and then rack up huge amounts of debt.

I want to buy something that is over $1k, I save for a few months and then just buy it. Its not hard to do.

 

[alexyu]

I don't think I have ever paid for software, and the only games I have ever paid for were Audiosurf and The Orange Box. The rest, such as OS's, Music, Games, Porn and so on, I have pirated. If possible I will usually use freeware alternatives such as open office and VLC player and so on.

There have been times though when I have bought the CD of a local band because they actually need the money to support themselves.

I don't have the money to buy games, so it's not like I am just downloading them for free when I could be buying them. The makers aren't loosing money from me deciding to download the game instead. Because if I wasn't able to download it, I wouldn't buy it anyway.

Just like me lol

 

[gamerman4]

Funny, I just found this on digg. Basically part of what I just said.

"Electronic Arts says that it understands how an illegally downloaded copy is not, in any way, a copy that was lost as a sale to the company. Mariam Sughayer, who is working for the corporate communications
department of EA, says that “Stepping aside from the whole issue of DRM, people need to recognize that every BitTorrent download doesn’t represent a successful copy of a game, let alone a lost sale”. Understanding this, the company is getting ready to shift its approach so that it rewards the customer rather than punishing everyone for the sins of pirates."

So just because somebody pirates a game, doesn't mean it was lost money because more than likely they would have never bought it in the first place.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/EA-Admits-Pirated-Copies-Do-Not-Equal-Lost-Sales-94516.shtml

 

[dragon2309]

I'd like to let everyone know, infrcations have been issued to certain posts inside this thread for people actively stating that they pirate software/music/films etc...

The thread OP asked for your general opinions oon pirating in general, there are plenty of ways you can go about that without stating that you pirate things and that you do it all the time... *cough*kesava*cough*

Whilst im here, I may as well point you all to Rule #1 of the http://www.computerforum.com/52038-forum-rules.html

If people continue, this thread will be closed.

 

[tlarkin]

Funny, I just found this on digg. Basically part of what I just said.

"Electronic Arts says that it understands how an illegally downloaded copy is not, in any way, a copy that was lost as a sale to the company. Mariam Sughayer, who is working for the corporate communications
department of EA, says that “Stepping aside from the whole issue of DRM, people need to recognize that every BitTorrent download doesn’t represent a successful copy of a game, let alone a lost sale”. Understanding this, the company is getting ready to shift its approach so that it rewards the customer rather than punishing everyone for the sins of pirates."

So just because somebody pirates a game, doesn't mean it was lost money because more than likely they would have never bought it in the first place.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/EA-Admits-Pirated-Copies-Do-Not-Equal-Lost-Sales-94516.shtml

That is subjective and it depends on how your company projects sales, and losses. It can be easily skewed to say the opposite. Statistics is not an exact science, and if you have ever worked for any sort of giant corporation you would know about being in the black and the red, and potential loss profit and potential lost dollars, and even when yielding a profit you can still claim a loss. I am not saying I agree with it all, but I am simply saying everything from that article from EA is subjective and does not represent how everyone does business.

I don't really care how people put it, if you can't pay for it don't buy it. If you think it is over priced then don't buy it. I haven't bought a blu ray player yet and don't plan on it until it is cheap because I don't need it.

 

[Vizy]

I'd like to let everyone know, infrcations have been issued to certain posts inside this thread for people actively stating that they pirate software/music/films etc...

The thread OP asked for your general opinions oon pirating in general, there are plenty of ways you can go about that without stating that you pirate things and that you do it all the time... *cough*kesava*cough*

Whilst im here, I may as well point you all to Rule #1 of the http://www.computerforum.com/52038-forum-rules.html

If people continue, this thread will be closed.

called it.

 

[patrickv]

I can't say that I feel sorry for you when your system crashes or you get a virus from using crappy pirated software.

Dunno if that's for me but my system has never crashed due to a pirated software.... crashes from viruses yeah but that was my own doing..

If you can't afford it perhaps you shouldn't have it.

Oh really ? You say that because you can afford it and thats cause it's available to you. I'd make a trip to the local store right now and i bet you if i go buy Encarta 2007, it's a copied DVD. See.. in some ways it's not the we shouldn't have it...it's just we don't have means to purchase legit stuff. we have those software to get the job done, though in the backend we are pirating...
That's what i always tell everyone, we are one of the most pirated countries in the world but that is because we do not have legit software. I would be very happy if one day i could shop and see a fully licensed copy of XP/Vista all boxed up in the shelves....

anyhoo my job is done here

 

[Twist86]

I got Vista for free as OEM install from my boss so its legal BUT 400 dollars for a OS is BULL**** especially when they force you to upgrade like they did for vista and DX10 + vista only games etc.

Then no more then a few years later 7 will be out and charge another 400-500 dollars for it.

I mean if I bought Vista x64 instead of having a awesome boss I would have spent 50% of my total cost on my gaming PC on a single OS I remove 80% of the stuff from.

Total rip off really.

It's illegal. I've never pirated it. And it's not worth it. You can't do updates and stuff when u need to, its just retarded, just go ahead and buy it. Go ahead and pirate whatever else though (just keep that news to urself).

Actually a simple google search shows MONTH BY MONTH updates for Vista all versions. In most cases pirates have a better time then legit buyers....need I even say EA? I always have problems with their games because of DRM etc...yet my buddy who pirates is enjoying the game the same day as it was released no DRM issues.

They are so worried about stopping pirates that they treat legit buyers like me like a pirate....so are they surprised sales are down?

I support good gaming companies though...but now I mostly buy through steam..EA and UBI don't deserve my money and I don't wanna even play their games anymore.

 

[massahwahl]

I really don't get it. Why would people pirate windows, when there is linux for free and much better than windows?
Why create games and software for windows when linux is simply superior and the number of users for it is growing?
I understand that windows has eye candy that attracts people, but why choose and use an operating system that is so vulnerable to malware and so on??
Why Windows? What does it have that linux doesn't?

Sometimes i don't know why I am using windows and not going to linux. Maybe because there are cool games for windows, but why aren't games for linux too???

With linux getting easier and easier to use and the need of the console becoming smaller, i really don't know why people prefer windows...


And now if people would stop pirating windows, many would switch to linux because not many buy software these days, so many would get linux for free instead of windows that is not free.

amen

 

[Sir Travis D]

Windows 7 beta has been t.o0rented, but I will never download that. We are going to Detroit on January 22nd to get a $99 windows 7 beta 1 dvd. It's just not the same as buying it if you download it.

 

[ducis]

without pirating there would be no DRM, fewer console only games, and I believe devs would put more time into making better software. We as consumers have dug quite a hole fore ourselves