Page 2 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 17 to 32 of 56

Thread: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

  1. #17
    SiM
    SiM is offline
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    London
    Posts
    7,787
    Thanks
    300
    Thanked
    633 times in 422 posts
    • SiM's system
      • Motherboard:
      • P5K Premium
      • CPU:
      • Q6600
      • Memory:
      • 8GB PC2-6400 OCZ ReaperX + Platinum
      • Storage:
      • 3 x 320gb HD322HJ single platter in Raid 0
      • Graphics card(s):
      • PNY GTX285
      • PSU:
      • Corsair TX650W
      • Case:
      • Antec 1200
      • Monitor(s):
      • 2407-HC

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    the reverse is true.

    Let's say there are 2 products - one for £40, one for £400. the £40 one competes with the £400 one - and people opt for the cheaper package unless there's a good reason. now add another product - the £400 one, but for free. perception is that the more expensive product is better, so the people who would have bought the £40 product, instead, pirate the £400 product

    as a result, whilst the people who *would* buy the £400 product continue to do so, the people who would buy the £40 product don't anymore - driving the £40 product out of the market

    now, there's no competition anymore. what incentive is there for the £400 product to lower its prices?
    You have misunderstood me. Let me give an example, the competition is between pirated windows Vista Ultimate and legit Vista Ultimate. The products are pretty much the same, except for risk of getting caught and fined and the fact that you can only install the legit one once... ignoring these differences, the only other is the support. How much is support worth? Not much for most people... Most people will choose £2 pirated copy over the £100 legit copy.

  2. #18
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Posts
    6,585
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    246 times in 208 posts

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    There is usually an outrage when the RIAA & al start targeting end users. We are often quick to mention cases where they targeted the granny who does not even have a computer and so forth. But while 'support' might not be worth much for most people, I reckon that a higher risk of getting caught (even as low as 10&#37 would make many pirates turn legit, or seek legit alternatives.

    There may be group of people who simply can't afford the asked price, so I am sure that even if the risk if getting caught is high, they would still chance it (not unlike shoplifters). But at least it would restore some equilibrium between risk and 'freebies'. As it is, the only reason for picking a £100 legit copy over a £2 is really your conscience. And there are an increasing number of people (based on various posts I've read) who simply see no wrongdoing whatsoever with pirating.
    Last edited by TooNice; 18-05-2008 at 06:07 PM.

  3. #19
    Senior Member Giraffe's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    near Northampton
    Posts
    850
    Thanks
    34
    Thanked
    42 times in 36 posts
    • Giraffe's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte GA-Z97-D3H
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core i5 5675C, S 1150, Broadwell, Quad Core, 3.1GHz, 3.6GHz Turbo
      • Memory:
      • Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1600, 4GB
      • Storage:
      • 512GB Samsung SSD, 850 Pro, SATA 3
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Integrated
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic S12G 450W 80+ Gold
      • Case:
      • Antec P100
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7 Pro, 32-bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell U2415, 24", 16:10
      • Internet:
      • TP-Link modem-router; 3mbps sync.

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    Quote Originally Posted by Agent View Post
    Good example is Photoshop and PainshopPro

    The number of people I've seen pirate PS when PSP does everything they need and more is shocking.
    PSP isn't free though.

    Paint.NET and GIMPShop will do almost everything and are free.
    PeterC

    Political lubricant:

    Rocket WMD45

  4. #20
    HEXUS.social member Agent's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Internet
    Posts
    19,185
    Thanks
    739
    Thanked
    1,614 times in 1,050 posts

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    Quote Originally Posted by Giraffe View Post
    PSP isn't free though.
    Which was the entire point of my post
    Read Directhex's post before mine - it will make more sense
    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    And by trying to force me to like small pants, they've alienated me.

  5. #21
    HEXUS.social member Agent's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Internet
    Posts
    19,185
    Thanks
    739
    Thanked
    1,614 times in 1,050 posts

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    And for anyone thats not seen it this is a nice read
    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    And by trying to force me to like small pants, they've alienated me.

  6. #22
    Jay
    Jay is offline
    Gentlemen.. we're history Jay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Jita
    Posts
    8,365
    Thanks
    304
    Thanked
    568 times in 409 posts

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    I am wondering if us good honest users are paying the price for the dishonest users. I am worried that small to medium business are being priced out of having a proper IT infrastructure.
    □ΞVΞ□

  7. #23
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    /dev/urandom
    Posts
    17,074
    Thanks
    228
    Thanked
    1,027 times in 678 posts
    • directhex's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming
      • CPU:
      • Ryzen 5900x
      • Memory:
      • 64GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB
      • Storage:
      • 2TB Seagate Firecuda 520
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra
      • PSU:
      • EVGA SuperNOVA 850W G3
      • Case:
      • NZXT H210i
      • Operating System:
      • Ubuntu 20.04, Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • LG 34GN850
      • Internet:
      • FIOS

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?


  8. #24
    HEXUS.social member Agent's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Internet
    Posts
    19,185
    Thanks
    739
    Thanked
    1,614 times in 1,050 posts

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    You do realise that if that gets bumped, I will be able to post *that* pic, don't you?
    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    And by trying to force me to like small pants, they've alienated me.

  9. #25
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    /dev/urandom
    Posts
    17,074
    Thanks
    228
    Thanked
    1,027 times in 678 posts
    • directhex's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming
      • CPU:
      • Ryzen 5900x
      • Memory:
      • 64GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB
      • Storage:
      • 2TB Seagate Firecuda 520
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra
      • PSU:
      • EVGA SuperNOVA 850W G3
      • Case:
      • NZXT H210i
      • Operating System:
      • Ubuntu 20.04, Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • LG 34GN850
      • Internet:
      • FIOS

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    Quote Originally Posted by Agent View Post
    You do realise that if that gets bumped, I will be able to post *that* pic, don't you?
    yessir!

  10. #26
    Senior Member Dreaming's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Leicester / York
    Posts
    1,501
    Thanks
    67
    Thanked
    40 times in 30 posts
    • Dreaming's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Abit IP35 Pro
      • CPU:
      • e6300 @ 2.8ghz
      • Memory:
      • 4gb Corsair XMS2 PC6400
      • Storage:
      • 500GB Western Digital for OS + 1500GB Seagate for Storage
      • Graphics card(s):
      • BFG 8800GTS OC2 320MB
      • PSU:
      • Antec Neo HE 550
      • Case:
      • Lian Li PC A05B
      • Operating System:
      • Windows Vista Home Premium x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Samsung 22" 226BW
      • Internet:
      • NTL 4Mb/s

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    I agree with chuckskull with my limited economics knowledge, piracy is an effect not a cause. It does lead to other things, in the way the multiplier effect works...

    But if there is a supply and demand for good x, it has a natural price point. If you are running a company, and have a natural monopoly or there are such barriers to entry that you have a monopoly anyway then you will price your product higher than the natural price point.

    This is damaging to the free market and has a negative overall effect i.e. Joe Bloggs who would have bought Microsoft Office at £50 can no longer afford to buy it at £300 even though Microsoft would have been still making money off that particular sale (so it is one they should have gone in), hence the investment in to making a product isn't being fully realised in benefits to society, it is being manipulated to make supernormal profits.

    In the natural market a lot like in the theory of evolution (lol) people tend to find a way around this i.e. if you price food too high people will riot instead of starve to death. In this case, a lot of software may be priced too high for certain areas (China example a good one) and so they resort to piracy rather than be deprived of the inherit benefits of using said program.

    I don't think it's always the case (although often is, I use paint.net instead of photoshop despite a million and one students 'needing' photoshop to make avatars or somesuch) as directx said that there is a competitor for a lower price point but offering limited functionality.

    I think part of the problem is the way people look at the price of software as being a big one off, in the same way you might see a BMW advertised for £30K which is massive. But there are two things to account for - the utility you get out of it (i.e. how much is it 'worth' to you, how much would you have to pay for the product to be no better off than if you hadn't got it in the first place) and also the timescale over which you use it. 3 years on a £60 piece of software is £20 a year. 5 years on a £30K car with £10k on depreciation is £2,000 a year (that's just the price of ownership, not running costs).
    Dreaming

    C2D E6300 @ 2.8 | | Abit IP35 Pro | | 4GB Corsair XMS2 800 | | BFG 8800GTS OC2 320MB | | 500GB Western Digital for OS + 1500GB Seagate for Storage | | Antec NeoHE 550 | | Lian Li PC A05B | | Samsung 226BW 22"

  11. #27
    Seething Cauldron of Hatred TheAnimus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    17,168
    Thanks
    803
    Thanked
    2,152 times in 1,408 posts

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    this assumes software is priced based on developement costs, and how much they can re-coupe.

    I think it is priced at what people will pay upto, before sales drop off. The neiches i've sold code to i've always used that model. I know this little app will save you £15k per year, so i'm going to charge £4k per year.

    As such i doubt piracy has any real effect on price point. Most people, no matter how they want to dress it up, who pirate are just doing so because their cheap, and its so damn easy, and they often don't need the product anyway. So they wouldn't buy it if it cost £20 or £2,000.
    throw new ArgumentException (String, String, Exception)

  12. #28
    I R Toff Pandi! TAKTAK's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Vergon6
    Posts
    7,450
    Thanks
    553
    Thanked
    1,013 times in 748 posts
    • TAKTAK's system
      • Motherboard:
      • ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING
      • CPU:
      • Ryzen 7 3700X
      • Memory:
      • 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz
      • Storage:
      • 500GB Samsung 970 EVO
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 5700 XT 50th Anniversary
      • PSU:
      • Be Quiet SFX-L 600W
      • Case:
      • Lian Li PC-O11 Mini
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • LG Ultrawide
      • Internet:
      • 200Mb FTTP

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    the main problem with piracy is that it makes some companies turn round and say "look were not gonna produce stuff for PC's anymore" just like crytek has done.....
    Post Counts and Other Rewards, Rules, Folding@Home, Fans: Push vs Pull vs Push-Pull, Corsair PSU OEMs.

    Quote Originally Posted by razer121 View Post
    Would you like me to enter you? it would be my pleasure
    TAKTAK.co.uk

  13. #29
    Gentoo Ricer
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Galway
    Posts
    11,048
    Thanks
    1,016
    Thanked
    944 times in 704 posts
    • aidanjt's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Strix Z370-G
      • CPU:
      • Intel i7-8700K
      • Memory:
      • 2x8GB Corsiar LPX 3000C15
      • Storage:
      • 500GB Samsung 960 EVO
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0
      • PSU:
      • EVGA G3 750W
      • Case:
      • Fractal Design Define C Mini
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Asus MG279Q
      • Internet:
      • 240mbps Virgin Cable

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    As if console discs are never pirated. And if anything is going to make me use cracks, retarded disc 'copy protection' crap like starforce is. DRM has run amuck and it only serves to hurt legitimate users.
    Quote Originally Posted by Agent View Post
    ...every time Creative bring out a new card range their advertising makes it sound like they have discovered a way to insert a thousand Chuck Norris super dwarfs in your ears...

  14. #30
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Posts
    6,585
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    246 times in 208 posts

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    I've not looked at figures, but I highly suspect that console discs are not as pirated in comparison to PC applications. Maybe it's just coincidence, but I just don't see a dodgy looking stack of discs next to a console as often compared to PCs. I hate 'copy protection' as much as the next person, but developers wouldn't have come up with such abominations if piracy was less widespread.
    Last edited by TooNice; 19-05-2008 at 03:35 AM.

  15. #31
    Gentoo Ricer
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Galway
    Posts
    11,048
    Thanks
    1,016
    Thanked
    944 times in 704 posts
    • aidanjt's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Strix Z370-G
      • CPU:
      • Intel i7-8700K
      • Memory:
      • 2x8GB Corsiar LPX 3000C15
      • Storage:
      • 500GB Samsung 960 EVO
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0
      • PSU:
      • EVGA G3 750W
      • Case:
      • Fractal Design Define C Mini
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Asus MG279Q
      • Internet:
      • 240mbps Virgin Cable

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    But that's just it, it isn't 'widespread', and *no* drm system has *ever* beaten the pirates, the entire concept is broken by design, so it never will, and the annoying thing is, said developers know it.

    All these things do is stop average joe copying their media from one type to another, and maybe tossing a copy or two to his mates, which utterly pales in comparison to the real pirates who have bitwise burning farms spitting out 20+ discs a second.

    Piracy isn't a new thing, making copies of someone elses work without their permission has been going on as long as there's been ink. Suddenly there's a plague of piracy growing exponentially?.. I hardly think so. If companies want to beat the pirates they need to improve the quality of their work significantly, reduce the prices significantly, and stop thinking they can control the world around them.
    Last edited by aidanjt; 19-05-2008 at 04:20 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Agent View Post
    ...every time Creative bring out a new card range their advertising makes it sound like they have discovered a way to insert a thousand Chuck Norris super dwarfs in your ears...

  16. #32
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    /dev/urandom
    Posts
    17,074
    Thanks
    228
    Thanked
    1,027 times in 678 posts
    • directhex's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming
      • CPU:
      • Ryzen 5900x
      • Memory:
      • 64GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB
      • Storage:
      • 2TB Seagate Firecuda 520
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra
      • PSU:
      • EVGA SuperNOVA 850W G3
      • Case:
      • NZXT H210i
      • Operating System:
      • Ubuntu 20.04, Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • LG 34GN850
      • Internet:
      • FIOS

    Re: Does Piracy Force The Price Of Software Up?

    hmmm, it IS widespread though. >50%, according to several companies who've tracked use of their products with & without legit keys. and most people credit rampant piracy with killing the amiga, fr'example

Page 2 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Massive Intel price cuts on July 22nd!
    By Toobad in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 34
    Last Post: 17-05-2007, 11:28 AM
  2. How soon for a PS3 price drop?
    By woodrun in forum Gaming
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: 23-04-2007, 02:00 PM
  3. Price drop for Opterons
    By colincliff in forum SCAN.care@HEXUS
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 31-10-2005, 12:06 PM
  4. Software devs still not doing their jobs right!
    By aidanjt in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 46
    Last Post: 08-08-2005, 06:54 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •