Pirated Software
August 21st, 2005 at 11:58 pm (General)
I ran across a HUGE ad by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) splashed in today’s issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer offering a whopping P1,000,000 to anyone who could provide information about companies using pirated software. This is a wake-up for all companies and individuals who have been using these softwares for their business operations. However, some of the facts stated in their online version are somewhat overblown.
Statistics show that 71% of PC software being used in the Philippines in 2004 was illegal. Losses due to piracy amounted to P3.7 billion last year, depriving the country of additional revenues and new job opportunities. This is a major blow to the the development of the local Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector and has posed a threat to the country’s economy.
The reason why most of PC software being using in the country are pirated is because they’re affordable. They have to consider that the Philippines is a third-word country with one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world. The P3.7 billion supposedly ‘lost’ in 2004 is not accurate. People with little income won’t go through the trouble of buying genuine software while there are cheaper alternatives available. And, should pirated software be completely eradicated, there are open source software (FOSS) floating around that are just as good.
It seems to me that the BSA is not really out to protect the interests of the country, but solely of its members, which isn’t a bad thing. But if they want to succeed in their goals, they should instead call for the development and proliferation of open source software, that way piracy will be lessened, and thus their ‘losses’. They should also find ways to drastically reduce the cost of their software, because that is the main driving point of piracy: People just can’t afford the real deal. Imagine this: Each licensed software must be installed in just one computer. In a medium-sized multimedia company utilizing 10 computers, they must purchase 10 different licenses all at the same time. By buying only one legal license and using it amongst 9 others, that is already considered as piracy. Adobe, which recently bought out Macromedia, is one of the hardest hit. Their flagship image editing product, Photoshop, sells for $599 alone, about P33,000. Multiply that by 10, that’s P330,000 already! Volume licenses are being offered, but that will give you only about 15% off (give or take) depending on the size of your organization. But the company will need more than just Photoshop on their computers. They need 10 licenses for Windows for Photoshop to run on, plus Microsoft Office, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Flash, Director, to name a few. That’ll easily translate to more than P2,000,000. To spend such an amount on software alone for a startup company is insane.
The BSA should change its tone on its war against piracy. It is completely ill-conceived for them to assume that everyone is capable of buying original software. The P3.7 billion they claim to have lost last year is nothing short of a lie. I’m all for the protection of copyrighted software, but the BSA should stop making it appear like they’re out to save the world, because they’re not. If their estimation is correct that 71% of all software in the Philippines is illegal, what is the need for the P1,000,000 bounty? They can go out to every office building and check for themselves! They’ve got a 2 out of 3 advantage to back them up. Those caught red handed face penalties such as prosecution and up to nine years imprisonment.
The ad that I saw is clearly a warning and nothing but. In 30 days many will have shifted to freeware, shareware and open source software to avoid arrest.
To see the BSA act on that warning remains to be seen.
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