I was reading an article about how The Canadian Association Aganst Software Theft (CAAST) has just settled it's largest suit against 8 Canadian companies in the amount of $330,300 for software piracy. That's Last year they hadn't settled more than a dozen cases for the year!!
Forgetting about the issue of a corporate piracy, on an individual level, they threw out a stat that ~39% of software in Canada is pirated. Why is that? Is it simply a matter of price, are users balking at the $900 cost of the latest versions of Photoshop, or Illustrator? Would we buy more software if the prices were more of a percieved bargain? Personally if I could afford it I'd love an original copy of the software I need to use along with the perks that come, like free tech support, but the prohibitive cost of MS Office for instance ($199 - 700 depending on verison) makes it impossible for a home user like me to stay current. At $700 am I getting value for my money? Is it worth $700?
Discuss...
Rob
Forgetting about the issue of a corporate piracy, on an individual level, they threw out a stat that ~39% of software in Canada is pirated. Why is that? Is it simply a matter of price, are users balking at the $900 cost of the latest versions of Photoshop, or Illustrator? Would we buy more software if the prices were more of a percieved bargain? Personally if I could afford it I'd love an original copy of the software I need to use along with the perks that come, like free tech support, but the prohibitive cost of MS Office for instance ($199 - 700 depending on verison) makes it impossible for a home user like me to stay current. At $700 am I getting value for my money? Is it worth $700?
Discuss...
Rob