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Stop Internet Piracy! Software Developers Should Help

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by scottieoo

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As my post, for recruiting network administrators in the fight against piracy, has gotten too large, I have decided to start a new thread to recruit software developers to become more engaged in the fight.

Microsoft is pioneering the industry in the fight against internet piracy and it is now time for other software companies to jump on board to become more vigilant in the fight against internet criminals.

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/default.mspx

It is the view of most people that the Internet is a completely free community for all users to enjoy. Please tell me exactly where this has worked in the real world? Police agencies need to upgrade their forces to become active members of the internet community, just as they are in the real community. If they don?t we are just creating pathways for criminals to take control of the internet and render it completely unusable. However with too many restrictions the internet will become static, either way the Internet is doomed if someone does not take action now.

One of my solutions to software piracy would be to set up a central student database in the education departments around the globe. The biggest threat to software is individuals. The majority of software piracy comes from the younger community as students don?t have the money to explore this new world of the computer. If the majority of the large software companies and education departments work together to create free versions of software for students, then I believe that software piracy would screech to a halt. This would be extremely beneficial for software companies as the view shared by many is, ?get em in young, and you got em for life?. Once the students learn how to use your software and become young adults and move out into the industry, they will recommend your product to other industries.

Microsoft is again the leaders in this new theory with their Academic Alliance, which I believe is a success at least in my institution. This has worked for them as I used to encourage the use of Linux as open source software, as I like the idea of free software. Now that Microsoft are giving me free software to use, I now support their company and will recommend Microsoft to the company I will eventually work for. This proves my point that the industry needs to work together and government needs to step in and stop the industry from policing itself.

NOTE: I will not participate as avidly as I did in my network administration post, as it is taking too much time away from my studies. Please do not rely on a response from me personally; I leave this forum open to the floor.

RELATED DISCUSSION: Stop Internet Piracy! Network Admins Should Help
https://www.techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=3&threadID=170277&start=0

13 replies

by roger99a

Sounds like Microsoft is using the same methods as the crack dealers, selling their wares on the school yard.

by roger99a

It just struck me that the marketing of Microsoft software and illicit drugs is very similar. You give it to kids to get them hooked then charge exhorbitant prices for it later. Just like the drug market, many will turn to crime to satisfy their needs.......

This message has been produced on a 100% open source Ubuntu Linux system. No children were harmed in the production of this message.

by jackofalltech

While I do NOT support or condone piracy, it never did, does not now, and never will "represent a loss...." The type of people who engage in that activity wouldn't buy the product even if they HAD the money!

Ralph

by jaqui

if software companies wrote decent software, and didn't charge your first and second born children.
then people could actually afford to buy the software.

but, as I use linux, and 99.4% open source ( free ) software, I don't really care bout piracy of ms based commercial software.

by scottieoo

Well essentially it is everyones choice, however I am debating against the piracy of PAID software. But if you primarily use open source, then this is not the forum for you.

by smorty71

In your other post, you assert that law enforcement and ISPs should team up to stop piracy by scanning P2P networks. Now you're advocating a free software program to prevent piracy. What happened to the intellectual property owners being responsible for it?

BTW, if you give people (students) free software long enough, they're going to expect it to be free. Then, when someone asks them for $400 to pay for it after college, guess what they're going to do?

by jck

Microsoft is essentially stealing an idea from someone else (imagine that), namely Unix.

From long ago in the beer-burned brain cells in the back of my noggin, I remember my CS department chair in school telling us of AT&T's strategy of how to infiltrate the market with Unix. He told us that AT&T essentially started giving Unix to schools, be it mainly universities. Since it was free, the education system jumped at not having to maintain licenses with IBM and other vendors.

What does that have to do with squat? Well, just think. You dump your software free on universities and if even one-third of them adopt it, you have 1/3 of computer-oriented majors learning Unix...living Unix...breathing Unix. So that when they get into the workforce and employers start seeing all these people who are contemporaries of your software, they look to move to it, especially if you're cheaper.

Hence, why do you think MS sold VB Academic for $49 at one point, when a full-blown professional edition was about 4 times that? Surely not because professional had 4 times the capability or performance enhancement.

Personally, I am about to check out Linspire and what development tools are available for it. I've programmed systems in over half a dozen languages so I don't think the move to Linux-based would be that painful for me.

So in reply to your question: "Then, when someone asks them for $400 to pay for it after college, guess what they're going to do?"

Answer: Ask their boss to budget it for the next fiscal year.

by scottieoo

Maybe old billy was a drug dealer back in high school. Maybe thats why he dropped out of uni, too many drugs.

by montgomery gator

This sounds too much like an Orwellian solution, where "Big Brother is Watching You". This is the last thing we need.

by lonnysterling

Why does Microsoft even bother fighting piracy? The average user no longer needs their products, there are too many free alternatives now that are totally compatible with their expensive software....so who cares.

Read about it at http://piracyalternatives.org

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