Software Piracy Due to Expensive Hardware, Says Ballmer 814
frdmfghtr writes "ZDNet is running a story where Steve Ballmer tries to pin the blame of software copyright infringement on expensive hardware: 'One way to stem piracy is to offer consumers in emerging countries a low-cost PC, Ballmer said. "There has to be...a $100 computer to go down-market in some of these countries. We have to engineer (PCs) to be lighter and cheaper," he said.' Does he think that cheaper hardware will make copying software harder to do?"
Its the Software Stupid! (Score:1, Informative)
hundreds of dollars for office, photoshop, windows, ect. (Yes I know there are alternatives, but many people do not know about OpenOffice, Gimp, and Linux.)
Re:Yep. and give everyone a free gun (Score:2, Informative)
Kennesaw county in Georgia (near Atlanta) requires every household to own a firearm and ammunition for that firearm. Their crime rate since the law was enacted in 1982 has fallen greatly.
Other places in the country where gun ownership has been restricted have likewise seen their crime rates climb, as the criminals obtain guns, regardless of the law.
Think about this: If you're a criminal, are you going to hit a house/person that probably *has* a gun, or are you going to go for a place where they probably *don't* have a gun?
Sorry for the hijack, but that little comment always makes me wonder if those who say it really understand the point they're making.
Cheers!
Re:What's MS going to Do? (Score:3, Informative)
Netboot. Rather than having your normal PC, you now have a diskless workstation.
Of course, you'd need a _LOT_ of bandwidth (I have 512k, which is nice, but even that is not enough).
Re:OK, that explains it... (Score:3, Informative)
You're thinking of overhead costs.
Re:Geez Louise (Score:5, Informative)
Compare a nicely-fleshed-out Windows application, with automatic visual styles and Direct3D and OpenFileDialog boxes, with wonky Java applets that might run in a browser, and might just break.
NOBODY and I do mean NOBODY writes Java Applets any more. Java Applications are what have been working to displace Windows dominance. A few examples:
Azureus Bit Torrent Client [sf.net]
Thinkfree Office Suite [thinkfree.com]
DataDino Database Explorer [datadino.com]
Disk Analyzer [jgoodies.com]
Games too:
Wurm Online [wurmonline.com]
My 4K games [dnsalias.com]
Big game list [grexengine.com]
So PLEASE don't mention Java Applets. You're likely to get stoned for it.
Re:OK, that explains it... (Score:5, Informative)
Meanwhile in Brazil... (Score:1, Informative)
There are lots of small shops selling "custom built machines" (that is, they buy parts and assemble the machines in the back). You can get a Athlon XP 2.x with 256M of Ram, 40GB drive, etc and a 17" monitor for about R$1500,00 (that's a little over US$500). This does not include an OS... Windows XP Pro retail costs R$999, Office 2003 will set you back R$1699 more...
Btw, an Office upgrade costs R$799, and MS Office versions are realeased every 18 months.
Software is already more expensive than hardware.
Re:What's MS going to Do? (Score:4, Informative)
You'd be really surprised. The $50 install on the Dell/HP/Gateway boxes often does not include a full version of the software on CD with it. This means that if the user needs a driver or their OS needs saved and the useless Recovery CD does not do the trick, they have to go to the store and buy a copy. This is amazingly very common. If you have a full version copy, your very popular...
Ballmer is obviously on drugs (Score:5, Informative)
Let me set this straight for you, B-man. The reasons for these two phenomenons are VERY similar:
1) People mainly pirate music because almost NO ONE feels that a CD is worth $17. Its price gouging, its unfair, they stifle competion, and the record company fatcats are getting disgustingly wealthy by ripping off artists and the public while pushing a mediocre product.
2) People priate MS software because almost NO ONE feels that their OS is worth $300, and almost NO ONE feels that their Office package is worth $400. Its price gouging, its unfair, they stifle competion, and the coporate heads are getting disgustingly wealthy by ripping off coders and the public while pushing a mediocre product.
Clear? Good.
Hardware vs. Software costs (Score:5, Informative)
Hardware:
5MHz CPU
512KB RAM
20MB HDD
14" monochrome CRT
Total price: $3000
Software:
MS-DOS: $60
Operating system = 2% of total cost
Today:
Hardware:
2.4GHz Celeron
256MB RAM
40GB HDD
15" SVGA LCD monitor
Total cost: $500
Software:
Windows XP Home OEM: $100
Operating system = 20% of system cost
The price of the OS has increased by an order of magnitude relative to hardware costs... and the cause of piracy is expensive hardware? Pull your head out, Ballmer.
Re:Apple proves this false (Score:3, Informative)
In the real world its a different senerio. The two main people that use Macs today in business are still graphics and video editing folks. In those industries, if you are caught using pirated software then you are blacklisted in the local art community. Galleries won't display your work, others won't return your phone calls, etc.. The reason being that if everyone else spent the $5000 or so for all the pro tools and adobe suite and one pirated the copies and there for only had the cost of hardware (still expensive) then you could see where people get irate.
That's not to say that people that own 2 or 3 macs and work out their house buy one copy and install on all don't do it. I know many that have and most will turn a blind eye to that so long as they purchased a copy. Again, college/art students can get away with the use of pirated software as well, but as soon as your out of school, you'd better pay for the next upgrade or risk your livelyhood.
Easier to pirate: yes. However, generally less of an incentive.
Re:What's MS going to Do? (Score:5, Informative)
The other thing is, XP copies all its known drivers to your hard drive anyways, same with Windows 2000. Those will never ask your original product CD. I believe 2000 only does so if you add "windows components" via their add/remove programs interface which lets you like add/remove solitare and such.
Re:Geez Louise (Score:3, Informative)
Hm. I see python used in CGI scripts, but never java. So instead of guessing, why don't we try go gather data, shall we?So there we have it - you're wrong and your message was probably just a troll.
Re:This guy doesn't know geeks! (Score:5, Informative)
I don't think you know the full quote, of which you've only given half. The complete version, most often attributed to Stewart Brand reads thus:
On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.
Which changes your argument significantly, I think.
Re:What's MS going to Do? (Score:4, Informative)
The apple had 6502 cpu with a completely different instruction set, it just wouldn't understand the 8080 instructions. My Radio Shack CoCo with a 6809 wouldn't understand and neither would my COSMAC ELF with it's RCA 1802 processor and a Whooping 255 Bytes static ram. Besides the other thing that gives you away as a troll is you called it an Apple2e, any self respecting Apple used would have called it an Apple][e or Apple IIe!