Why do people download illegal software?

Maybe they don’t have the money to get the real one

well,in my opinion,people are just being practical :) Why Buy if there’s free?

you saved a lot of money and enjoyed the benefits of the illegal software that has all the qualities you need from a legal software ;)

Because they’re broke

If you can afford to buy everything legal then great but most likely the people who do it don’t.

it’s convenient… erm, it’s free? it’s almost instant in most cases….

they need to make it easier for people to get the goods online at a competitive price, especially considering how much the companies would save on packaging etc.

cos piracy is fun…arrr

a very gr8 reason is they r free!!!!:)

Generally speaking the software itself is not illegal. . It is the actions of the “copyright thieves” who download, or make unauthorized copies available at “bargain prices” without paying a penny to the hard working programmers and legitimate copyright owners. . Fortunately, many countries are now actively monitoring ALL downloads and logging such copyright theft with a view to fining offenders, confiscating their equipment, and even imposing prison sentences. . http://funadvice.com/r/153f344vphd . In the UK copyright thieves are now being regularly fined for such offences as a result of the sterling work of organizations such as: . the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT): http://funadvice.com/r/153f344vrfa . and the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST): http://funadvice.com/r/153f344vsnq . Virtually all Internet traffic is routinely logged, and it is only a matter of time before the aggrieved copyright owners catch up with the thieves and make them pay significantly more than the true cost, or lose their tangible assets and liberty. .

– Best wishes - Majikthise. .

Why would someone want to spend money on something they can get for free? O.o

For the same reason as people want to pay workers a fair wage for a fair days work, or pay for goods in a shop rather than shoplifting, or work to earn money to buy their own goods rather than breaking into your property to steal all your things for themselves……. Perhaps you would like a return to slavery (for others of course) so you can have everything done for you for free.

Perhaps you would like to not overexaggerate and stick to the topic. Just because I would rather download a program illegally than buy it doesn’t mean that I want slavery back. I see what you’re saying about shoplifting and such, but saying that because I support illegal downloading I also want slaves back, well that’s just insulting and rude.

I have to agree with majikthise even if he did exaggerate a bit ;) Those companies work really hard making movies and music and games and we can steal em over night.

I agree as well, but he didn’t have to be rude about it. And agreeing doesn’t mean that I have to stop doing it, lol. I disagree with animal abuse but I don’t buy free range beef.

The real issue is money. People have trouble paying hard earned money for something that is intangible like a right to use or intellectual property. It is easy to spend more money on software than you do on the computer it runs on which a lot of consumers are not prepared for. I’ve worked places where management had a very caviler attitude about paying for software. When I pointed out that we bought 200 licenses but installed the software on 300 computers the answer was something to the effect that they thought they were paying enough to the software company already and were not going to purchase more. Where I work now the rule is if we don’t have a license it isn’t installed period. There are free alternatives for a lot of expensive software. Ubuntu (or whichever free Linux distro you prefer) instead of Windows, Open Office instead of Microsoft Office and GIMP instead of Adobe Photoshop. You can legally download these free packages and install them on as many computers as you like.

@connor - the issue is simply whether you wish to pay for the privilege of benefitting from other people’s work (effectively providing them with paid employment) , or whether you wish to have the benefit of their work without paying for them for it - when they are in fact making it clear that they are only willing to sell you a licence to use their software under the terms and conditions that the licence is offered. I don’t really care whether you think I am rude for calling you a thief, or rude for calling you a would be benefactor of slave labour. I have no qualms about insulting criminals for their crimes - including criminal copyright theives who like to portray themselves as latter day Robin Hoods committing a victimless crime.

i actually get that haha

must admit i have a few pirated things on my system at the moment.

i might have too :p

almost evryone..i think!!! its like internet booze!!

lol most illegal stuffs are easier to get. i guess

I wish to have to have the benefit of their work without paying them for it. The end :)

Because they think they will not get caught? Dunno.

Most people are used to using Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office and it’s installed on more than 90% all workstation computers and everyone knows it. So everyone wants to have the same program. But it is expensive. People don’t want to pay 400 dollars for an office program that they use only twice a month. So they pirate it and think no one will ever notice.

And they don’t feel bad about it. Because pirating is not really like stealing to them. If you steal something, then the actual owner misses it. In pirating, you just make a copy of something and then there’s two. And no one misses anything. I think that there’s a much lower… let’s call it psychological inhibition threshold… to it. Because people can’t really see that they are doing damage to someone when they pirate software.

I think that making the legal, free alternative software better known would reduce software piracy. You can legally download open office and do anything with it that a normal guy who uses office twice a month needs. But then, the companies who sell software are not really interested in reducing piracy if the alternative is that people use free software. They want the alternative to be that people buy their software.

I mean they are not actually suffering damage if a person who would in no case buy an office suite pirates one. The contrary applies. The fact that their software is so well known, widespread and used by everyone is mostly because people pirate software. They want to make people buy their software. They do not want to make people not use their software at all if they don’t want to buy it. That’s why they do not put more energy into making pirating impossible.

I don’t pirate software. I use Linux and it’s all legal and free. :-)

lol