Calling BS On the BSA Global Piracy Report 138
An anonymous reader writes "The Business Software Alliance released their annual global piracy report earlier this week. In addition to the usual claims of
software piracy (PDF) and the grudging acknowledgment of open source software, Michael Geist noted that the report ultimately undermined one of the BSA's core arguments — that countries which enact DMCA-style legislation experience significantly reduced piracy rates. Questions have also been raised over the BSA's methodology, as has happened in the past."
attack is the best defense (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Why are they so grudging with admissions? (Score:5, Interesting)
DMCA reduces piracy rates (Score:4, Interesting)
The fallacy being that the crooks will comply with the law, as
Oh No! Zimbabwe is pirating! (Score:5, Interesting)
Why is the BSA even surveying countries which recently had a major war, are having battles with rebels or are suffering hyper inflation to the point their economy is broken? Is a surprise that people pirate in such conditions? Shouldn't there be some acceptance that in a country where physical property is hard to come by/keep that people ignore intangible property?
Roughly speaking the firm takes an estimate of the amount of computers shipped to individual companies, takes a further estimate of what software should be on those machines, and compares that, not to exact software sales, but to interviews with software vendors.
I don't see how such data gathering methods can give a legitimate support either, I don't think such sloppy researching would pass any scientific rigour, combine that with a test group of 6000 out of a supposed 6 billion and you8 don't have anything actually useful to go by. Its like setting up a small niche website and then estimating world web browser usage based on adding up the monthly percentages of visits from each browser.
Re:Arguing with the BSA (Score:4, Interesting)
I have noticed that with few exceptions, the people who would make good politicians - that is, the people who actually know things about relevant issues - are drawn to professions that would actually earn real money. For example, how many computer programmers do you know who have run for office?
Almost any programmer worth his salt is going to be earning a lot more money programming than he could in public office - it's irrelevant whether his knowledge would be directly applicable to laws that would be passed during his term.
If we want smart people in office examining our laws, we need to pay them what they're worth.
Re:And the BSA still doesn't get it. (Score:4, Interesting)
Your situation is slightly different from what I was talking about (and had to go through myself) where the student is no longer living at home and has to be able to budget rent, utilities, food, transportation, tuition, books and tools on a part-time income while only qualifying for enough financial aid to pay for most of their tuition. I have faith that since your son is still living at home and that you are claiming him as a dependent in lieu of charging him rent he was able to afford the $449 to $999 (after educational discount) to pick up a CS4 suite package that contains the software he needs.
Re:And the BSA still doesn't get it. (Score:2, Interesting)
Hang on one second...what the hell is a college grad with 50k in debt doing working at a 7-11?
Secondly, why would "mom" download a $2500 adobe master suite when the features she gets from her free copy of photoshop that was installed for her on her windows box from Dell (thus driving up the profits for the manufacturer) provide all the picture amusement she wants?
Now for a long rant. To ignore the rant, read outside the brackets.
[Begin Rant]
If adobe thought they could make more money by lowering their price on proprietary software, they would. In reality, nothing else comes close to the value provided by their $2500 software packaage, and those who can afford it, buy it. Those who can't afford it, probably don't need it. There isnt a situation where a legitimate user of the software for commerical purposes would have a client that would ask them to work without appropriate tools.
If you find yourself in the position where a client wants you to complete work that requires software that you dont have, you either get the client to pay for it, pony up the money yourself because multiple clients will need you to use it, or you turn them down for the position.
A home user of photoshop will at some point work with 100MB images. They certainly don't today, but 3-5 MB images are common. A 10 Megapixel point and shoot camera sells for under $200 today. A quick craigslist search in my area (atlanta) shows a Sony 60 GB internal hard drive camcorder available for sale for under $500. Its even easier to use than the one my mother does.
The line between professional and home user is shrinking every day, and quite honestly, the difference doesn't matter to the vast majority of users. Breaking software into professional and home makes less sense over time. The difference between consumer piracy and commercial piracy is that the consumer has more assets at stake when caught and the commericial is more likely to be caught.
I don't know where the concept of a lost sale comes from, but it isnt from piracy. Consumers either purchase things or they dont. It is the purpose of the business to produce things that consumers want to buy. Not to produce things that consumers want to use. With software, the only thing you are really selling is the promise to continue to sell and back up that product. A copy of software has no intrinsic value.
[Hey look, a car analogy!] A car, in contrast, has intrinsic value. It serves a purpose, of transportation of people, goods, and creation of ability for service involving the transportation of people and goods. Over time, the value of a car decreases, as newer models are produced that complete the same function with less upkeep, higher safety features, and improved functions. Software, quite similiarly, gets updated, gets improved, and becomes more functional and useful over time. If I tweak my car, and make it faster, or more fuel efficient, or safer, or upgrade it from automatic to manual for better handling, or paint it a ridiculous color that matches your favorite sports team, I can sell it for more than I bought it. If I buy software, and I tweak it to perform better, or improve the skin, or actually work with my alternate operating system, I can't resell it. This makes sense. There is no value added when I tweak software, because infinite copies can be made at no marginal cost.
When you buy software, you are buying the next upgrade. You are paying salary, and R&D, and education for future software engineers, and updates, and upgrades, and maybe even a small/large profit to create incentive for the software creators to keep creating. With professional software, this is a business. If you create software as a hobby, you aren't going to be better than a business. By definition, there is no guarantee that future software or upgrades or improvements or service will be provided, and businesses need these things to remain competitive.
[End Rant]
Getting slightly on topic, I don't believe that DRM beneficial to businesses. Its a c
Re:Another pro-piracy article on Slashdot (Score:2, Interesting)
Think if that happened to your industry. You'd quit and do something else, right?
Actually i'm in the software industry and it happens alot (tho not as completely as music), i've moved on to a business model that is service based (software services) before the bottom totally falls out and release much of my software for free as open source projects.
I'm happier than I was before and make the same (actually a little more) money.
Just because you're clinging to a failing business model in an industry with a devastating monopoly (records studios) preventing indies from getting anywhere serious doesn't mean I should feel sorry for you or even care.
Maybe if enough of you started joining places like Magnatune things could change for the better.
Re:huh? (Score:5, Interesting)
> BSA has a methodology?
Yup. "Sue no matter what."
They break in to your place of business, having convinced federal marshals that you would destroy all the evidence on your computers if they didn't. Then they take all your computers, based on whatever tip they got from an ex-employee or other anonymous source and had a judge sign off on while you weren't there (hearing held ex parte). They run their own infringement finding software that attempts to scan your network and seize all the computers they can, shutting you down whether you were guilty or not.
Finally, they sue you unless you can provided dated purchase orders for each and every computer and piece of software. Yes, every. And no, the little "Genuine Windows" sticker on the PCs won't save you. It doesn't count.
After this, you get dragged into court and urge you to settle for $bignum while getting really expensive site license agreements that protect you so long as you pay them way more than all your software is actually worth. This has never happened to me personally, but I refer you to the case of Ernie Ball [cnet.com].
This is TERRIBLE news for the FOSS community (Score:1, Interesting)
I think people are missing the REALLY bad news from this data- that even in countries without a software market (high piracy), free options like Linux STILL fail to compete.
It's the death of a talking point. They aren't "forced" to use Windows, since they aren't buying new computers. They can use anything... yet they would rather STEAL Windows than legitimately use a free Linux.
If Linux were somehow a viable option if only it weren't for that evil old Microsoft forcing everyone to use it... then why isn't Linux thriving in markets without a Microsoft presence?
BSA Rebates? (Score:1, Interesting)
So, if the BSA comes into my company and finds that we have $10,000 in paid licenses that we aren't using, will they give us a check?
We've been switching everything to Linux and other FOSS the last year just because keeping up with licenses isn't worth it.
Re:Had to laugh at ... (Score:1, Interesting)
Dude, when life's this good, why should we bother trying to control the rest of the world?
They can have their frozen siberian tundras and their "tornado alley" and their oil.
We'll (grudgingly) put up with our great climate, fantastic beaches, and abundance of bikini-clad women.