In
general, this is not so much a Sri Lankan only issue as it is a global one. But
the fact is this: piracy in Sri Lanka is increasing at an alarming rate. You
have huge shops selling pirated software, movies, music and games. This
commercialization is something that is primarily an Asia-only issue. The
excuses people have given for buying pirated stuff are: we don’t have the
money, the original is not available in Asia yet and it doesn’t really harm
anyone.
The
problem is that piracy existed all along and is rampant even in the west, where
laws are strict about it. But we are one of the few countries where it is
commercialized and is now a source of income for many. The fact is, with more
companies coming to Sri Lanka, the originals are available, though still
heavily priced. It does harm the creator of that software, game, movie and music,
which took up time and effort to develop
because the money he should get for selling his creation, is not being given to
him. And not having the money doesn’t justify stealing. Since we call ourselves
one of the better countries in Asia, isn’t it time that the anti-piracy laws be
implemented heavily? Because this surely is going to harm the economy as Sri
Lanka takes on the world IT market.
As
a student of software development, it hurts people when they don’t get the
money we deserve. How many people put how much time in developing MS WINDOWS that we talk of? It takes years. Suppose we
make something and spend 10 hours a day, for 2 years, and then some guy steals
it, People give excuses like “it’s too expensive”. Well, if you want to use it,
you have to buy it, just because you cannot afford it doesn’t give you the
right to steal it. Would you steal a car if you weren’t able to afford it and
chances of being caught were minimal? What does that make you, a thief?
Companies are not cheating you. A guy who works for EA games, the company which
made the FIFA series, Usually it takes them 2-3 years of hard work to get one
game out. Thousands of people work on it, the money the company is making is
due to the fact that they earned it. If the cost is too much, don’t buy it, no
one's forcing you to.
Piracy
is one of the evils facing businesses and is one that causes losses to
government and organizations. But, before saying anything further against
piracy:
1)
It is right that cost of developing any software is high. But when thousands of
copies of it are sold, costs must come down, for example the cost of software
like windows etc. is hardly in hundreds. For which they charge in thousands - is
that right?
2)
Because Windows and other Microsoft software are used extensively. there is virtual
monopoly and because of this reason they are free to charge anything which they
want.
Companies
themselves are more responsible for encouraging piracy. To stop piracy is not
only in hands of customers but major steps are required from companies also
Apart
from others views, what are my opinions of the rights and wrongs of software piracy?
I
often hear people say that software piracy is illegal. You can go to jail if
you are caught. Great! But does that mean software piracy is wrong just because
it is illegal? In fact, legality of a thing has nothing to do with its being
right or wrong.
Let's
not forget India's major reason for success is IT sector. Now what made IT a
success in India? It's the cheap supply of pirated software to every nook and
corner of the country. An original copy of Windows XP costs somewhere between
10,000 to 12,000 Rupees (approximately). A pirated costs around 100 Rupees. The
same is the case with Microsoft office, Photoshop etc. Now if all the copies
were original and cost the computer owner a fortune, do you think computing
would have reached the grass root level as it has reached today?
Also
some people argue that piracy leads to loss of revenue to companies. I
disagree. In fact, piracy actually earns the company more money. When free
copies of software, say a computer game is available for free, countless
numbers of people will become aware of a product when otherwise they would have
simply looked past it.
This
talk is known as "buzz" and it drives up the interest in the product
from people who don't have their copies yet. Think about stuff you've bought.
Aren't you more likely to buy something that everyone's talking about?
Whatever
we are today is only because of piracy. Obviously if good/ bad piracy had not
been there, we wouldn't have become software professionals as all these software
like Oracle which we used to get for Rs. 50 and practice used to costs hundreds
of thousands with license.
Suppose
the game was popular enough to spread twenty million copies through both sales
and piracy. If the game was not pirated, only the people who saw the game in
the store, ads, or reviews would have bought the game. Because there are fewer
people with the game, there is not nearly as much buzz, leading most people to
overlook it. In the end, the game sells 20,000 copies. Compare this to the
original scenario, with 20 million copies. Even with the piracy, the game still
sold a million copies. That's quite a difference, I believe.
Long
live Piracy!!!
