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Single Software Licence Shared 774,651 Times
nk497 writes "A single licence for Avast security software has been used by 774,651 people after it went viral on a file-sharing site. Avast noticed that a license for its paid-for security software, sold to a 14-user firm in Arizona, was being distributed online. Rather than shut down the piracy, the company decided to see how far the software would spread — it's since popped up in 200 countries, including the Vatican City. Now, the company is turning it into a marketing opportunity, with a pop-up encouraging users of the pirated copy to download a legal copy of the free or paid-for version. Avast isn't sure how many pirates have gone legal, but said some have made the switch."
Well, that’s a good start, I guess.
Distributed Denial of APK: It takes 15 seconds to reply to him anonymously, but wastes tons of his time if we all do it.
Amazing how that works.
Cue 4,000,000 slashdot posts how this proves, objectively, with 100% accuracy, that software piracy does zero economic harm and is actually beneficial to everyone involved.
FCKGW-RHQQ2...
I used to get high on life, but I developed a tolerance. Now I need something stronger.
“We found our licence code at a number of warez sites around the globe,” said Vince Steckler, chief executive of Avast Software. “There is a paradox in computer users looking for ‘free’ antivirus programs at locations with a known reputation for spreading malware.”
The pirating of legally-free software never ceases to amuse me...I know the licence is for a "paid" version of the program, but still, for personal users, the "free" version is more than sufficient. That being said, Avast's response to this has been PERFECT.
Living With a Nerd
As it turns out, when asked, all 774,651 people were "just trying out to see how it was before they bought it."
proof of piracy is not proof of a lost sale
The paradox might be that pirate sites are trusted more by users than antivirus creators.
They are likely grateful that people are using their software rather than the superior (and free) Microsoft Security Essentials. (Yes, MS makes a piece of software that is superior in virtually every way to its competition. Hard to believe, but it's true.)
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
Ian Ameline
Last I checked the US State Department recognized something like 194 countries. So they appear to have coverage of 103% of the countries in the world!
Rounding error. This is what happens when you let arts majors use computers.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
At least 774,641 searched for the file (wanting to pirate it) and found this copy first. If this copy was not there, 774,641 would have searched for the file and found what was otherwise the second result for said software. What we can say is that 774,641 pirated the software, not that the uploaded caused it to be pirated 774,641 times.
I'm trying not to condonng the pirates or sympathizing with the software company. This is just (hopefully) an objective observation.
You're still applying an interpretation. What it says is that 774,641 copies of the pirated key are in use (or something similar; depending how they gathered their stats, it might be that many IP addresses, which may or may not correlate to actual installed copies, or... whatever).
When you say that 774,641 people searched for the file and found it first, you're making an assumption that is no more valid than any other guess. My own assumption, to provide a contrary point of view, is that people actively went out actively looking to get their hands on the paid version without paying for it, as when I enter a variety of Avast-related search terms in Google, I get their website, not warez sites.
In any case, I like the way they handled it, though I would have supported cancelling that license as well (after discussions with the actual owner of the license).
Am I the only one that finds it slightly humorous that people were pirating a product called Avast! ... ? :)
But Avasts free product is pretty good as well, and the only 2 features that the pro version has that the free version doesn't is
Neither of which seem like killer features to me. The free version of Avast does however require you to go to their website and register, enter the licence key into the product and repeat when the license expires.
I wonder if the scale of this pirating shows that people prefer a simpler solution (see Note #1) more than it shows that people prefer a free solution?
Note #1: At least 1 step in the process is removed, the registration step. Possibly the next step as well, the pirate version may not require the install to enter the license number either, although I've not used the pirate version so could say for sure.
These comments are my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other voices in my head.
You're missing a few zeroes on the end there.
Hey Vatican, what part of Thou Shalt Not Steal did you misunderstand?!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff