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Posts with tag pirate

Filed under: Business, Developer, Internet, Security, Commercial, Open Source

Does software piracy hurt the open source community?

microsoft office pirate search
Louis Suarez-Potts, the community manager for the open-source Open Office project, says software piracy also hurts the open-source community, and though it can be argued that open-source is bad for innovation, most of us love the open source community. So does the occasional pirated piece of software really hurt our beloved open source projects?

Suarez-Potts thinks it's bad for everyone including the open source community since pirated software theoretically takes "customers" away from open source projects. For example, a college student may never end up downloading Open Office since he copied Microsoft Office from a friend, but that's not to say it hurts the money-makers like Microsoft at all. A little bit of piracy helps to establish big company's products as "the standard", hurting open source projects even more and making it harder for them to get their foot into a user's door.

Now we'd like to pose a question: Like the college student used in the example above, does pirating software generally prevent you from trying Open Source software or would you have put the cash down anyway even if you couldn't get it for free?

Does software piracy generally prevent you from joining the open souce movement?

Filed under: Business, Finance, News, Analysis

Study finds global piracy rates hold fast at 35%, Russian and Chinese scallawags belay a bit

Piracy Rate by Region

The fourth annual Global Piracy Study, conducted by tech market research company IDC on behalf of the Business Software Alliance, was released this morning. The researchers estimate that again this year, 35% of all software on PCs worldwide is pirated. This is despite claimed advances in legitimate sales in traditional problem areas like China, where the government's decision to license operating systems and other software is uses on state-owned PCs has resulted in a 10% drop in three years (a drop from 92% to 82%, but still). Other developing markets, though, seem to be taking up the slack. Nearly one third of countries surveyed has piracy rates topping 75%, and while developing markets account for fully 30% of global PC sales, they only account for 10% of software revenue.

Perhaps the most surprising finding was that, despite the world's lowest piracy rate--21%--the estimated value of pirated software in the US is the highest on the list. IDC estimates that the US accounts for US$7.3bn in piracy losses. That raises a red flag in my mind: are we really buying (or not) that much more software than other countries, or are we getting ripped off paying for software that sells for less elsewhere?

Even taken with the XXL grain of salt BSA funding requires, these are big numbers.

Filed under: Security, Office, Microsoft

Microsoft: don't use pirated software, but if you do, use ours

Jeff RaikesMicrosoft spends an awful lot of money every year trying to make sure you don't use bootleg copies of their software. But Microsoft business group president Jeff Raikes had something interesting to say at the Morgan Stanley Technology conference last week.

Essentially, he said if people are going to use pirated software, he'd prefer they use bootleg copies of Microsoft programs.

While this sounds funny at first, it actually makes a lot of sense. If you're using a bootleg copy of Office 2007, you might be tempted to pick up a copy of Office 2011 or whatever's next. And while you might be able to find a way to download a pirated copy of that too, maybe Microsoft will finally come up with an uncrackable copy protection scheme (ha!), or you'll be in a position where you're more comfortable paying for software by the time the next version comes out.

But it's still not something you'd expect to hear someone at Microsoft actually say out loud.

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Ninja Loves Pirate - Today's Time Waster

Ninja Loves Pirate
I've never made a very convincing pirate, even on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, but like you I can enjoy a hearty "yarr" now and again. What I enjoy even more, though, is Ninja Loves Pirate, a gorgeous side-scroller for Windows in which you play the dual roles of (wait for it) stealthy ninja Ichiro and dread pirate Blackbeard, who must battle their way through (wait for it) evil zombies and robots. I'm not even kidding. Blackbeard and Ichiro each have their own special moves and skills, and the characters, enemies, and environments are composed of lush 16-bit-inspired graphics and excellent animations. The game does have a manual, but it's hidden on the Ninja Loves Pirate web site. Unfortunately only a demo is currently available, but it's challenging and satisfying to play, and I don't recommend you miss it. Matey.

Know any good pirate-themed time-wasters? Post them in the comments and I'll add them to this post.

Filed under: News

Software pirate goes to jail for seven years

iBackup.net go to jailDoes not pass go, does not collect $200. iBackups.net owner Nathan Peterson received an 87 month sentence for software piracy, which is a record for sentences to date. For those of you who don't feel like doing the math, that's seven years and three months. Nathan also has to repay $5.4 million in restitution in $200 monthly payments after he gets out of prison. iBackups.net damages were reportedly $20 million instead of the usual for most cases, which sits at $9 million. Peterson used Google's AdSense to find customers for his pirated software. The FBI seized homes, half a dozen cars, and even a boat from Peterson, which he had obtained using money from what the court called a federal offense. So, I guess the lesson here is the next time you are about to pirate software, don't.

Filed under: Business, Developer, Windows, Microsoft, Commercial, Freeware

Windows Genuine Advantage workarounds

wga workaroundsSo let's just say, hypothetically, that your copy of Windows XP isn't "genuine." If you're tired of seeing the warning that alerts you to this fact, there's now a workaround to disable the WGA notifications. Does it work? Honestly I don't know, because every version of Windows I touch appears to be the real thing. And of course, I'm not here to advocate piracy. But the incessant twiddling of this whole WGA issue is kind of a mess, isn't it? Already pirates have figured out how to disable the check. Now you can disable the warnings, so it's like WGA doesn't even exist. It makes me wonder why MS is putting all versions of Vista on one optical disc, essentially setting up a very low-hanging fruit for potential pirates... But maybe that's the plan?

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

View more Time Wasters

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