p2pnet - rss feed: Canadian software pirates
p2p news / p2pnet: Business Software Alliance (BSA) Canadian clone the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST) says more than one out of every three copies of PC software used in Canada in 2005 was illegal.
This comes on the heels of the BSA’s most recent shlock-horror report which says 35% of all PC software is counterfeited.
Like its parent, for its ‘independent’ studies, CAAST uses the IDC (International Data Corp) which last year was severely criticised by Britain’s The Economist for the manner in which it had prepared a BSA study.
CTV has CAAST saying and the BSA saying Canada’s “software piracy rate” decreased three percentage points to 33% in 2005, “falling below the worldwide piracy rate, which remained stable at 35 per cent”.
And apparently, “Losses to the Canadian economy due to software piracy were $943 million, down $166 million from 2004, the groups said in a release.”
Neither CAAST nor the IDC say how such precise figures were arrived at, but by way of an introduction to BSA or just BS? The Economist states:
“It sounds too bad to be true; but, then, it might not be true. Up to 35% of all PC software installed in 2004 was pirated, resulting in a staggering $33 billion loss to the industry, according to an annual study released this week by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) …”
And then in the story, “The association’s [BSA] figures rely on sample data that may not be representative, assumptions about the average amount of software on PCs and, for some countries, guesses rather than hard data,” it says. “Moreover, the figures are presented in an exaggerated way by the BSA and International Data Corporation (IDC), a research firm that conducts the study. They dubiously presume that each piece of software pirated equals a direct loss of revenue to software firms.
“To derive its piracy rate, IDC estimates the average amount of software that is installed on a PC per country, using data from surveys, interviews and other studies. That figure is then reduced by the known quantity of software sold per country - a calculation in which IDC specialises. The result: a (supposed) amount of piracy per country. Multiplying that figure by the revenue from legitimate sales thus yields the retail value of the unpaid-for software. This, IDC and BSA claim, equals the amount of lost revenue.”
Meanwhile, CTV has CAAST president Jacquie Famulak allowing, “It’s encouraging to see progress being made in reducing Canada’s software piracy rate and how it is approaching the rates found in countries such as the U.K., Germany and Australia.”
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See:
on the heels - New BSA shlock-horror study, May 23, 2005
CTV - Canada’s software piracy rate below world average, May 23, 2006
BSA or just BS? - BSA Shock Horror loss report, May 26, 2005
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May 24th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
Ahh, more fabricated losses, whatever.
Considering how I use Linux I can’t possibly be included in that 1/3rd assumption.
May 24th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Wow From that study I can come to the only reasonable conclusion:
Canada sure does use a lot of FLOSS bases software!
I guess they were just tired of being screwed by the “Software Manufacturing” companies as consumers and decided to become customers again, exercising their right to choose their software, and moved to more customer friendlier software, FLOSS based.
May 24th, 2006 at 4:15 pm
Even the Canadian courts called the mpaa/riaa/BSA figure$ fabricated trash and tossed their monetary claims back in their faces.
Wish i kept the link to that news story… but one day i will google it i guess… It was a nice polite canadian court way of kicking them in their bumbums and telling them to go back under their rocks.
May 24th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
What a shame. And all the great paying jobs that are lost because if more software is purchased, more programmers will be hired by IBM, HP, Microsoft, etc., which by pure coincidence are American companies that are exporting jobs as fast as they can, to lower salary countries. What a shame.
May 24th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
“Losses to the Canadian economy due to software piracy were $943 million,”
Sure, for $943 million, about 20,000 jobs could be created in Canada, but is that the way it works out? No. $20,000 jobs would be lost in Canada as the $943 million exited Canada as mostly wealthy American shareholder become wealthier.
Losses to the Canadian economy? Bullshit.
May 24th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
you honestly believe that industry dribble??
May 24th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Dribble?
If you mean saliva spilling from the mouth, as when a dog has rabies, yes, the copyright cartels have the rabies. That is why they are suing everyone i sight.
May 24th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
So, both studies say 1 in 3. Sounds about right to me. I would bet that the primary reason for the number coming down is thanks to the free / open source movement. It’s definitely made an impact on the software I use over the past few years that’s for sure, and it’s become my main preference if at all possible. My parents were baby boomers, so I grew up with pirated software. It was the norm. Thus, I actually used to have a lot of pirated stuff in the past, but now I’m down to almost nothing thanks in large part to all the good free software that is available these days, much of which is actually very high quality. As for the few things I still use that are pirated, most of it can be justified I feel. I mean, it’s around $1200 for this one program in particular that I have, plus another $1000 for the half decent “add-on” I use with it. To be honest, I only use this app occasionally and as a toy more or less, though I do like to help folks out there so that is sometimes another reason for using it. It’s just something to pass the time when I’m bored mostly. My interests shift frequently too so 3d art will never be more than just a hobby for me from time to time. I don’t make any money at all from the usage of any of my pirated applications, and am certainly no pro. Same goes for digital painting or <insert hobby here>. For example, Corel Painter costs a small fortune, around $500 CDN I think. I don’t know why it’s so expensive since these kinds of traditional media programs aren’t very popular as far as I know. Luckily a decent alternative exists and for a fantastic price (Art Rage, only $20!) which makes it well worth supporting so it can grow, and hopefully stay very easy on my meager funds. Recently Deep Paint became free as of 2.0 as well. I’m thinking Right Hemisphere (the makers) must not have been able to make any money off if it to make it worth continued support, and so simply give it away now. One other thing to take into account is the rate at which some of these programs are updated and how insanely expensive those upgrades can be. Gets pretty crazy I tell you, talk about abusing your loyal customers! There are of course student and OEM versions sometimes, but these rarely cut it because they are usually still pretty expensive too. Now, if were talking pro level usage here then I think the programs used should be paid for. After all, if it’s your livelihood and you do good at it (which you must be if you’ve chosen it to be your sole income), or your an organization like one of those large production houses for example, then it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. In fact $1200 should be petty cash for some of these kind of people/organizations. But for me? Get real. I’d choose to simply not use program XYZ before I’d dish out that kind of cash, and find something just as good that’s affordable and as close to free as possible. This is getting easier every day. Anyways, I’m willing to bet that the majority of folks with pirated software are just like me. Thankfully the world is slowly changing for the better. I have no doubts that next year we’ll see a 2006 report that is much the same, and that the number will have dropped some more. As long as there are good people out there willing to invest the time and effort to make free stuff available for the general pulic, or at least at a very realistic and highly competitive price, then the number of pirated apps being used will certainly keep coming down. Bet you this will end up being a bad thing in the long run too for some of these companies. After all, what thing above all makes something the industry standard? How many people there are using it of course, and word of mouth is the most powerful advertising of all.