BSA ‘piracy’ figures
p2pnet.net News:- The Business Software Alliance, says losses due to counterfeit product are going down, but 35% of the software on PCs is illegal, “a one percentage point decrease from 36 percent in 2003.”
But, it says, losses due to fakes product increased from $29 billion to $33 billion.
It doesn’t explain, in its new ‘independent’ study, how it’s able to reliably calculate this.
But it quotes BSA president and ceo Robert Holleyman as saying, “Worldwide, one out of every three copies of software in use today has been obtained illegally”.
He also says BSA, “education programs, policy initiatives and enforcement efforts around the world continue to have an impact on the piracy problem”.
One of its most treasured educational campaigns involves a copyright-crusading ferret but, “the continued influx of new users in emerging markets, and the increased availability of pirated software primarily through the Internet and P2P networks, underscores that continued education is a must,” says Holleyman.
Thus, “BSA will continue its efforts to stem the growth of piracy and thus stimulate local economies, create jobs, generate tax revenue, and encourage investment in technological innovation for the future.”
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See:-
‘independent’ study - One Third of All Software in Use Still Pirated, Major Study Finds, BSA, May 18, 2005
copyright-crusading ferret – BSA weasels into schools, p2pnet, August 13, 2004
May 19th, 2005 at 1:14 am
Shame they never asked me in this, i’ve got 2 legal progras with this computer, Windows XP Home and Works (as they came pre-installed), everything else i’ve not paid for because it’s far too expensive. Who thinks students are rich and made of money, so much money they can just go out and buy what they like? I for one can’t so I resort to alternative methods… downloading from others.
I can’t see Micro$oft sueing me or Yahoo for accepting a download of XP Pro and installing that on another computer, although it wouldn’t suprise me if they try!
May 20th, 2005 at 12:10 pm
I guess there is a reason why the name of the BSA starts with ‘BS’. You simply can not believe any of their number because they are all massaged, adjusted, interpolated, spun, fluffed, recalibrated and/or re-worked. Their idea of piracy is:
1 millions computers sold + 800,000 copies of Windows Something-or-other sold equals 200,000 ‘pirated’ copies of Windows.
HELLO!! Did you ever hear of LINUX? How about DOS? How about “I’m replacing my old computer that washed away in the flood, but I managed to save my installation CDs and I paid for the rights to use one copy of this on ANY computer, so long as it’s only one computer at any given moment in time.”
Also, how can Microsoft make outrageous claims about it’s piracy ‘losses’ when they will sell me (and almost anyone else) software with a ‘catalog value’ of tens of thousands of dollars for $799.00 through their Technet community? Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot. ::headslap a la Amstel light commercial:: They are one of the patrons of the BSA………
May 22nd, 2005 at 4:04 pm
I don’t know…. I think the math went more like this: if we sould an extra 200,000 copies my bonus would go up by(insert ridiculous amount of money here)…. hmmmm yup that’s a good number.