Software Piracy

One Hundred Eighty Fifth Post: Software Piracy

I own quite a bit of computer software. Having a computer for years now the software has piled up. My recent purchased were an investment in the graphics I make. I haven’t done anything professional yet, but I continue to build “little projects.” Software is expensive, and I have found to save money I don’t upgrade the version until it has new features that I feel are worth the upgrade.

This is were the money issue comes in. There is a question the software user must ask should I pay for this software or should I download a pirated version. With the pirated version comes the latest version and it is free. But this is were the decision is made. Admittedly, it does seem nice to experiment with the software, upgrade it, and pay nothing. But that is exactly the wrong attitude. Today on the net there are hundred of thousands of free programs that are legal. It is called open source software or free software. If a person doesn’t want to spend the money for a program they should consider this first. Also some schools sell software to students at discount prices. Should we not support these options before using pirated software?

And if that alone isn’t enough to deter piracy, (Which it is not.) think of all the programs you use and how they were cracked by a cracker. As you may now from warez sites, this person could have filled the software with trojans and viruses. Why would they give software away to a person who just download for free who is not a fellow hacker. And even if you have some knowledge of downloading these programs, you know they can be unstable and crash the computer. Do you want the work and programs that you save to be unstable? It is definitely a good argument against piracy.

Put until you search for open source software... May the Creative Force and Holiday Spirit be with You