Piracy might seem like it mainly strikes the movie and music industry, but it is in fact just as much of a problem for the software industry. Everything from operating system to Office suites and image editing applications are available online and many who build a computer don’t even care for a budget to cover the software, not because they use freeware but pirated such. Even if many users around the world use some sort of pirated software few actually feel good about this. Most people know that they are stealing and that you “should” buy the software, or not use it at all.
What few people realize is that there is actually a third option and that is using freeware with similar functions as the programs you would otherwise had to pay hundreds of dollars for. At Bit-tech they’ve published an interesting article about freeware and what alternatives there are for the perhaps most frequenctly pirated softwares, among others Windows XP and Adobe Photoshop. They start with a calculation of the costs for the base software many users use today, and it’s not a pretty figure. Only Windows XP Pro, Office 2003 and Photoshop would cost a person £1080 ($1,900), more than most computers cost.
They walk you through what free alternatives you have and this might be good reading for those who wants to become a bit more honest with its softwares or simply wants to spend the money on something else than just software and still be legal.
