Quote: "As a note, 4% of people are sociopaths and will never pay for anything if they can get away with not doing so, they will also roll you in any way possible as the have no morality, empathy or ability to be shamed or feel guilt in any way at all, in the same way as animals don't have the ability to laugh or the desire to dance to music, sociopaths don't feel guilt or empathy.
As your pet cat isn't going to break out in a fit of laughter at any merriment, as its incapable of doing so, the sociopath are incapable of feeling guilt or empathy, so the sociopath will not think twice to do you over, its just a fact of life that you have to accept, and the sociopath is at every level in society period, in fact many are hidden at the top as sociopaths are excellent at getting to the top by any means necessary. When you define the world you have to put that into your equation."
But that cat will eat the dog's food even when there is food in the cat's dish.
Many want what they don't have, and some will take a risk on getting it.
Quote: "Oh really? That might be true, but take this into consideration: Open source. For anyone who might not know what open source is, it's software that is freely available, and so is the source. The source can be edited and improved, for no pay. So in contrary, open source has put more programmers out of jobs than piracy has. Hence, Microsoft doesn't like open source, because it takes away from people who program software to put some food on the table. "
OMG
People can learn from open source, so it helps programmers.
Open source also lets you know what exactly is going on in the software that you install.
That is why MicroSoft does not support open source, because it revealed their marketing spyware.
Quote: "I did video game distribution for my marketing discertation, and I remember being shocked by a figure on mintel that said 37% of all software installed on computers around the world is pirated. "
I can agree with that estimate since it is global.
Most pirated software is in China so their percentage is way higher. (so is their population)
However, again we have to ask ourselves if that 37% (mostly poor in developing nations) would have ever made the purchase anyway.
Honest people pay for their software. Period.
Dishonest people Pirate their software. Period
Poverty forces a lot of people into being dishonest, and yes there are a few sociopaths who will steal even if they have money. (like that shoplifting actress)
There are no real losses from software piracy because those people would have never made a purchase anyway!
Nothing you can say or do will ever change that.
If anything it is more exposure and free advertising for the companies because there product is now seen by more cutomers who are able and willing to pay.
This was mentioned earlier about Autodesk's outlook on piracy, and I think that they better understand the issue than those who prefer to battle in a never ending war.
Quote: "simple answer - TAX. Tobacco and Alcohol tax make governments massive amounts of revenue each year through tax. "
Also freedom of choice.
That is what I dislike most about anti-smoking campaigns.
They remind me of religious fanatics.
Always trying to bend the whole world into sharing their beliefs or wants.
If someone wants to smoke tobacco, then let them.
That second hand smoke is no worse than the emmisions from your cars.
So stop driving vehicles that burn fossil fuels or shut the heck up about people smoking tobacco.
Otherwise it is plain hypocrtical.
Quote: "But programmers are choosing to join open source projects and develop for free, so they are creating their own fate by taking away jobs for themselves."
Or they are creating their own fates by showing off their talents that will get them recognized and possibly job offers.
Are you anti-opensource guys telling me that Linus is hurting since he made Linux open source?
You guys need to wake up and smell the roses on the open source issue.
Its all about security and its a good thing.
No country is going to have its national security depending on unknown software.
That is why governments demand open source and why MicroSoft has a choice; comply with their demand or lose out to the competition.
Open Source is the future, so you might want to learn to use it to your advantage rather than seeing it as an enemy.
Open Source and Piracy have another thing in common.
The choice is yours.
