To buy or steal.

[DaiTheDragon]

First of all please don’t give any information on web sites or file sharing sites or this thread will probably be cancelled.
What is your opinion of illegal software? I will use Photoshop as an example as it’s probably the most popular software that people want.
A few years ago when I was in college I asked my tutor about illegal software and this is what he told me. Adobe realise that no matter what they do the software will be cracked and it would be impossible to police. So they work on the assumption that say a student acquires a copy and learns how to use it when he or she goes into business after college they would have to buy a legal license.
You can download a 30-day trial of Photoshop but after 30 days a newbie wouldn’t even scratch the surface of what Photoshop can do.
Yes I would use illegal copies but if I could afford it the 2 programs that I would pay full price for is Adobe PhotoshopCS3 and Dreamweaver.
I may be the exception but I don’t think Photoshop is overpriced considering what it can do.
So what are your opinions.
Dai

[Interpreter]

A moral issue indeed. I would use an illegal copy to assess the product. By this I mean that I would borrow the programme from someone who has purchased it. If the programme was of use to me, then I would purchase it myself, if I had the money to do so. Otherwise I would look for a less expensive product which was similar in nature and buy that.

Some of these top rated programmes are really very good, however they are probably too good for the likes of amateur photographers, who will never use most of the included facilities. Lower priced programmes may be more cost effective. For example, I have CS2, but use a very old copy of MGI Photosuite, which I have had since about 1998. It does all that I need and more importantly, I know how to use it. CS2 has a very steep learning curve and I doubt that many users have the time or ability to learn how to use it on their own, without professional instruction.

If people use pirated copies of software, the producers of the original software, lose money - or rather do not receive money - and will eventually cease investing in the developement of programmes. They are not charitable institutions, but are in business to make money. CS2 is on sale for £12 and guaranteed to be legal. I doubt this. Microsoft Office is available at the same sort of price. The original is 20 times more expensive for a legal copy, but if you cannot afford to buy this, try Open Office. It is free and legal. Don't support piracy. It is illegal. I will not go into the matter of viruses here, but if you do share files, get a good anti-virus programme first.

[Ukwildlifeo]

Some people, including poor students who need this software have no other option than piracy. If these people charge £300 for software what do they expect to happen? And despite what they say downloading something for free does not fund terrorism!

[jennyb]

I have been working in software development for more years than I care to remember. Developing (good) software is not easy. It requires a lot expertise and is very time-consuming to both write and test before being released onto the market. Developing a package like Photoshop takes many, many man years. So, if you expect a good product, you should also expect to pay for it. Pirating software is illegal.

Having said that, I think Photoshop is really overpriced and personally I will stick to Paintshop Pro which is an excellent product at an affordable price.

One further thing - many software products are just too complex with far too much functionality. How many of the features of Photoshop, or Microsoft Word, for example, do you actually use? I probably use less than 10% of Word functionality - what a waste. Maybe cut down versions are the way to go?

Jenny

[beckiscott]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

Some people, including poor students who need this software have no other option than piracy. If these people charge £300 for software what do they expect to happen? And despite what they say downloading something for free does not fund terrorism!

I dont actually know many companies that do charge over £300 for Student Licensed versions of industry software - Quark is £50, Adobe CS is £90, Office is £100 - you can even get 14% off apple computers for being a student or teacher. So I'm not sure that is a valid reason to use pirate software?!

Personally, i make use of the free demos / beta versions to trail new software, and then my work will buy it for me, with the license usually covering installation on a office & home machine.

Saying that i do drive at 100mph on the motorway - we all have moral / legal choices to make, and we all have our reasons & justifications for doing what we do! ;-)

[Ambriel]

I own/run a software development company and put a huge amount of effort into producing quality products for my customers. Thankfully it's pretty niche stuff so the potential for piracy is small but it has happened in the past and I've had to shake the big stick at a few companies over the years.

As regards Adobe Photoshop, there's really no excuse for using a pirate copy as Photoshop Elements (which I use) is available for free, and often comes on magazine cover CDs, and has as many features as most of us are likely to ever need.

I'll admit to using BitTorrent to download music but that's because I have a huge collection on vinyl (ask your parents what that is, kids), and I'm only replacing like with like. The same, to a lesser degree, with VHS video. I have all the technology required to transfer both formats to the PC so all I'm doing is saving time.

[HowlinWolf]

If you've ever downloaded music from illegal sites, or made copies of other peoples CD's etc, then you should have no qualms about using pirated software.

HW

[nightshade]

Piracy is not to be condoned no matter how you rationalise it
Why don't several people split the cost and be licensed this will
give access to support etc.

[Gaina]

I like all my software licensed and above-board mainly for the tech support, but also it's got to have a bad knock-on effect on the price for the consumer if people keep stealing the software.

Mind you I do think that Adobe should allow a person to use their photoshop software on two computers as standard, then after than you need to purchase another license, as most designers I know use it on at least two computers.

[beckiscott]

Originally Posted by Gaina

Mind you I do think that Adobe should allow a person to use their photoshop software on two computers as standard

They do - as does Quark.
As long as the computers are the same platform and not used concurrently, then you are able to install on 2 machines at any one time.