BSA Claims 35% of Software is Pirated

hdtv writes "Business Software Alliance says 35% of packaged software installed on PCs globally is pirated, and estimates the losses at $34 bln. From the article: 'The countries with the highest piracy rates were Vietnam (90%), Zimbabwe (90%), Indonesia (87%), China (86%), and Pakistan (86%). The countries with the lowest piracy rates were the United States (21%), New Zealand (23%), Austria (26%), and Finland (26%).' TechDirt analysis debunks some of the myths: 'The BSA claims that all of these "lost sales" represent real harm to the economy. It's the same bogus argument they've trotted out before, which is easily debunked. Much of that unauthorized software is being used to make firms much more productive than they would be otherwise -- probably benefiting the overall economy quite a bit.'"

Easy answer

[mfh]

That's an easy one because 15% of all software is just garbage. The rest is open source and you can't pirate that.

Wow the US is low

[aychamo]

I can't believe the US is doing so poorly in their rate of piracy. I guess I'll have to start pirating twice as much software just to help us make up the slack on the rest of the world!

Re:Easy answer

[CosmeticLobotamy]

The rest is open source and you can't pirate that.

That sounds like a challenge, and I accept.

too many sheep

[sc0p3]

New Zealand (23%),

Yeah we have too many sheep here in NZ.. of course we have a low piracy rate.. That'd require people to know what a computer was :|

Re: not only NOT a lost sale, but

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Interestingly, one of the most damning contra-examples was the huge spike in CD sales corresponding to the spike in file sharing at the emergence of the original Napster.

Ahh! But were the CDs blank?

Fight!!!

[s7uar7]

I pirate my software and spend the money I save on CDs. I'll let the RIAA and BSA fight it out between themselves.

What is this productive software?

[brian0918]

"Much of that unauthorized software is being used to make firms much more productive than they would be otherwise -- probably benefiting the overall economy quite a bit"

What is this software, and why isn't it available for Windows?

Re:It's total hogwash

[linvir]

Worse even than choosing to live without their PC, some even turn to MSPaint.

Re:It's total hogwash

[Anonymous Coward]

"You are on day 1474 of your 30 day evaluation period." - Paint Shop Pro

I claim 35% of all planets have life on them

[Weaselmancer]

I haven't been there, so I have no way of actually knowing. But I'm sure it's true.

That's FUD!

[ichigo 2.0]

Haven't we heard enough of this "piracy is going to kill our economy" bullshit? Why are we focusing on this, when the our (America's) trade deficit with China is over $200,000,000,000/year (yes, that is 200 billion dollars a YEAR at the current rate). Seems to me that this piracy thing is small potatoes, in the end.

Cease your pirate propaganda, slashdotters are too smart to fall for it. There's been credible studies that have come to the conclusion that piracy costs $11,440,939,650,000 [donnysblog.com] per month. In fact, unless piracy is immediately stopped, it will cost more than $132 trillion [donnysblog.com] by the end of this year; your measly $200 billion is small potatoes compared to that!

They're absolutely right

[Anonymous Coward]

If it weren't for all the money they're losing to the pirates, Microsoft would be able to spend the amount needed to create Vista on time as a quality product. By pirating software, we're just leading to bad software.

(Me ducks and runs for cover!)

Re:Wrong counter argument.

[linvir]

Now that's a proper proof by contradiction.

Sir specious, at your service-Flitty

[Anonymous Coward]

"In any case, this notion of a lost sale is just plain silly. After all, you can't lose something you never had."

Like your mind?

Wait...

[dilweed]

The Boy Scouts of America are the software Police now?
Shouldn't they be out eating Brownies?

Re:Easy answer

[jesdynf]

Hah, already beat you.

I ran #gnuwarez on EFnet for a year or so. Zero-day Debian releases, FreeBSD -- you name it, I had a vast network of affiliate networks capable of getting it out to you. Mad greetz to the SourceForge guys.

Re:It's total hogwash

[jma05]

It's 4 yrs old. Upgrade.

Re:Wrong counter argument.

[deathy_epl+ccs]

...that's 362.88 million dollars, or less than 1% of the pocket money Microsoft has, nevermind their total assets.

So c'mon, guys! If we're gonna get this job done quickly, we're gonna need your help! Everybody chip in, and we'll have 'em out of business in no time!