Software theft is bad; so is misstating the evidence
It sounds too bad to be true; but, then, it might not be true. Up to 35% of all PC software installed in 2004 was pirated, resulting in a staggering $33 billion loss to the industry, according to an annual study released this week by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a trade association and lobby group.
Such jaw-dropping figures are regularly cited in government documents and used to justify new laws and tough penalties for pirates--this month in Britain, for example, two people convicted of piracy got lengthy prison sentences, even though they had not sought to earn money. The BSA provided its data. The judge chose to describe the effects of piracy as nothing less than "catastrophic".
But while the losses due to software copyright violations are large and serious, the crime is certainly not as costly as the BSA portrays. The association's figures rely on sample data that may not be representative, assumptions about the average amount of software on PCs and, for some countries, guesses rather than hard data. Moreover, the figures are presented in an exaggerated way by the BSA and International Data Corporation (IDC), a research firm that conducts the study. They dubiously presume that each piece of software pirated equals a direct loss of revenue to software firms.
To derive its piracy rate, IDC estimates the average amount of software that is installed on a PC per country, using data from surveys, interviews and other studies. That figure is then reduced by the known quantity of software sold per country--a calculation in which IDC specialises. The result: a (supposed) amount of piracy per country. Multiplying that figure by the revenue from legitimate sales thus yields the retail value of the unpaid-for software. This, IDC and BSA claim, equals the amount of lost revenue.
The problem is that the economic impact of global software piracy is far harder to calculate. Some academics have shown that some piracy actually increases software sales, by introducing products to people who would not otherwise become customers. Indeed, Bill Gates chirped in the 1990s that piracy in China was useful to Microsoft, because once the nation was hooked, the software giant would eventually figure out a way to monetise the trend. (Lately Microsoft has kept quiet on this issue.)
The BSA's bold claims are surprising, given that last year the group was severely criticised for inflating its figures to suit its political aims. "Absurd on its face" and "patently obscene" is how Gary Shapiro, boss of the Consumer Electronics Association, another lobby group, describes the new ranking.
Spokeman from SCO annonced today that they are currently closely examining Solaris source code for any "infringing" SCO's Linux code.
When asked about the legitmacy of the action, however- "This IS the property of SCO, that's final...no we don't have proof for that, but we are working on that."
- 5.9x mass of earth is not a lot for like to handle. Remember, you get a lot more pressure from every side of your body (as oppose to only downward in gravity) say if you are in 1000m under water.
- Our earth will end the same way. The sun will expand into red giant, pushing earth away from its original orbit (with protons/solar wind and whathaveyounot), but still be close enough for a nice and even baking of the surface (and kill everyone on the planet I pressume).
We could maybe find ancient life on this planet!! Forget about Mars- to find life, THIS planet is WHERE we should be going next!
Who could forget William Henry Gates III and his little run-in with Harvard to start a little company geekily named Microsoft...Ha! look where it has lead him to now.
He could be so much more! He could be so much like...us!
Normally law does apply to citizens, provided that you know your local policemen well enough that they actually goes through the trouble
(1. not exactly a bad thing, they just do thier work faster if you give them a cigerette 2. most of them don't take large amount money bribe nowaday- the central government is really harsh on this kind of thing these days).
However when you get to political (against the party) or economic (smuggling for exp.), the government draws the line.
"My dream school would have 7-foot-diagonal, in-wall units in every classroom."
me 2, thanks for the obvious
allow students and teachers to share assignments, surf the web and edit video using their fingers as pens.
share what assignment? surf what web? Edit what video? You have textbook, notebook, VCR/DVD for those.
"A student asked if a worm had a brain. So I was able to do a quick Google search that had a diagram of an earthworm,"
wow so instead of you know the answer beforehand (provided that you are a bio teacher), you could just delagate the job to google. Good job, keep this up and I will replace you with a Perl Google search script.
A 12-year-old discovered that by pressing two keys at once, the calculators will convert decimals to fractions.
You sure it is a flaw? Sounds more like a hidden function by a bored programmer to me.
Also, what's wrong with the fraction function? My Casio FX-260 S Calculator that I used in ~grade also has a fraction function. No one ever complain about that:/
A few years ago, one of the local IT start-up reached an agreement with the school board that is similar to this.
What they offered was a debit-card look-a-like that uses prepaid credit to buy cafe food.
However they made a fatal mistake...
To maximize their chance of success in the pilot school (which was the one I attended, they had a plan where each new card would automatically get 10 dollar credits-
They never saw it coming:) As you can probably guess almost every student signed up for 10 cards (morality? What's that?)- The pilot testing was withdrawn after six months.
"...touching and feeling of animals or other humans in real time"
Slow down boy, take it one at a time. You don't want to advance that fast into a specialize field such as this.
Start with something easy, for example your local HS cheerleader- that should be enough for a long long time.
It would be a good thing if they release the code along with the product- but sadly, they don't.
This doesn't really apply to forum scripts (as they are in code form anyway), but what the heck- you would never see the "creator" release the code to everyone, just the ones that bought the program.
The robot looks like it costs over 10 grand...
You would need a guide dog to maul thief that tries to steal the robot, so no, I think the dog will be here until Kingdom comes.
long answer: no, we like to rip off other people's programs.
Case in point: Western people developed a few forum scripts (vBulletin, phpBB, Invision, YaBB, etc.)- you rarely see forum that uses scripts other than the ones above.
If you look at the chinese forum community, however, you will go OMFG how many forum softwares are there?!!! It seems that each forum has its own script (with its own name) that incidentally looks a lot like their western counterparts.
Of course thse scripts are rip-off:) , but this is the whole point: we, as Asin, likes to rip off others, modify it a bit, and put in our own name.
This is just asking for trouble. As most of you would probably imagine, some self-proclaim "comdeian" would post either porn pictures, or pictures that resembles porn body position.
They would need a team of outsource Indian workers to go through each picture one by one!
I am not Indian but...can I apply for the image filtering job?
I said this first, I should get the job;)
.
Slashdot Mirror
Software piracy: BSA or just BS?
The Economist
Software theft is bad; so is misstating the evidence
It sounds too bad to be true; but, then, it might not be true. Up to 35% of all PC software installed in 2004 was pirated, resulting in a staggering $33 billion loss to the industry, according to an annual study released this week by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a trade association and lobby group.
Such jaw-dropping figures are regularly cited in government documents and used to justify new laws and tough penalties for pirates--this month in Britain, for example, two people convicted of piracy got lengthy prison sentences, even though they had not sought to earn money. The BSA provided its data. The judge chose to describe the effects of piracy as nothing less than "catastrophic".
But while the losses due to software copyright violations are large and serious, the crime is certainly not as costly as the BSA portrays. The association's figures rely on sample data that may not be representative, assumptions about the average amount of software on PCs and, for some countries, guesses rather than hard data. Moreover, the figures are presented in an exaggerated way by the BSA and International Data Corporation (IDC), a research firm that conducts the study. They dubiously presume that each piece of software pirated equals a direct loss of revenue to software firms.
To derive its piracy rate, IDC estimates the average amount of software that is installed on a PC per country, using data from surveys, interviews and other studies. That figure is then reduced by the known quantity of software sold per country--a calculation in which IDC specialises. The result: a (supposed) amount of piracy per country. Multiplying that figure by the revenue from legitimate sales thus yields the retail value of the unpaid-for software. This, IDC and BSA claim, equals the amount of lost revenue.
The problem is that the economic impact of global software piracy is far harder to calculate. Some academics have shown that some piracy actually increases software sales, by introducing products to people who would not otherwise become customers. Indeed, Bill Gates chirped in the 1990s that piracy in China was useful to Microsoft, because once the nation was hooked, the software giant would eventually figure out a way to monetise the trend. (Lately Microsoft has kept quiet on this issue.)
The BSA's bold claims are surprising, given that last year the group was severely criticised for inflating its figures to suit its political aims. "Absurd on its face" and "patently obscene" is how Gary Shapiro, boss of the Consumer Electronics Association, another lobby group, describes the new ranking.
www.economist.com 21/05/05
Spokeman from SCO annonced today that they are currently closely examining Solaris source code for any "infringing" SCO's Linux code.
When asked about the legitmacy of the action, however- "This IS the property of SCO, that's final...no we don't have proof for that, but we are working on that."
You are forgetting the anti-freeze to kill off those nasty algae.
But then again...after you dump the warm water outside, you can probably kiss your lawn goodbye.
- 5.9x mass of earth is not a lot for like to handle. Remember, you get a lot more pressure from every side of your body (as oppose to only downward in gravity) say if you are in 1000m under water.
- Our earth will end the same way. The sun will expand into red giant, pushing earth away from its original orbit (with protons/solar wind and whathaveyounot), but still be close enough for a nice and even baking of the surface (and kill everyone on the planet I pressume).
We could maybe find ancient life on this planet!! Forget about Mars- to find life, THIS planet is WHERE we should be going next!
Who could forget William Henry Gates III and his little run-in with Harvard to start a little company geekily named Microsoft...Ha! look where it has lead him to now.
/sacasam
He could be so much more! He could be so much like...us!
Normally law does apply to citizens, provided that you know your local policemen well enough that they actually goes through the trouble (1. not exactly a bad thing, they just do thier work faster if you give them a cigerette 2. most of them don't take large amount money bribe nowaday- the central government is really harsh on this kind of thing these days). However when you get to political (against the party) or economic (smuggling for exp.), the government draws the line.
MSN China says it must comply with local laws, but there is no Chinese law against the use of the use of these words."
Law? You don't need law to enforce the will of the party in China.
PS. Before this is mark flamebait- I am a chinese.
"My dream school would have 7-foot-diagonal, in-wall units in every classroom."
me 2, thanks for the obvious allow students and teachers to share assignments, surf the web and edit video using their fingers as pens.
share what assignment? surf what web? Edit what video? You have textbook, notebook, VCR/DVD for those.
"A student asked if a worm had a brain. So I was able to do a quick Google search that had a diagram of an earthworm,"
wow so instead of you know the answer beforehand (provided that you are a bio teacher), you could just delagate the job to google. Good job, keep this up and I will replace you with a Perl Google search script.
My god
At least the puns are not too hot to handle.
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=Honda+FCX%3A+W hat+a+Gas!+A+Week+in+Suburbia+With+a+Hydrogen+Hond a&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
opps-I guess Google IS good at digging stuff up with google's awsome ref cability
In case you don't have NYT subscription, here is the original article.
A 12-year-old discovered that by pressing two keys at once, the calculators will convert decimals to fractions.
:/
You sure it is a flaw? Sounds more like a hidden function by a bored programmer to me. Also, what's wrong with the fraction function? My Casio FX-260 S Calculator that I used in ~grade also has a fraction function. No one ever complain about that
The Inquirer had an article talking about encrypting backup tape a few days ago.
Coincidence?
A few years ago, one of the local IT start-up reached an agreement with the school board that is similar to this.
:) As you can probably guess almost every student signed up for 10 cards (morality? What's that?)- The pilot testing was withdrawn after six months.
What they offered was a debit-card look-a-like that uses prepaid credit to buy cafe food.
However they made a fatal mistake...
To maximize their chance of success in the pilot school (which was the one I attended, they had a plan where each new card would automatically get 10 dollar credits-
They never saw it coming
pity
"...touching and feeling of animals or other humans in real time" Slow down boy, take it one at a time. You don't want to advance that fast into a specialize field such as this.
Start with something easy, for example your local HS cheerleader- that should be enough for a long long time.
"I can imagine lots of applications for this new battery including my own laptop."
When did spermecide and impotentcy count as applications of a laptop?
All the geeks on planet earth are now using Firefox.
into the cellphone industry.
They have done the impossible: they created a bluetooth system that no virus in existant can infect.
Microsoft, are you listening?
God I think I will feel much safer knowing that my cellphone (and probably my comp's OS) is made by Toyota.
Since the government can't crack/control it, they release FUD to discourage the public from using the system.
In this world only the paranoid survive.
They did, that's why it doesn't work.
It would be a good thing if they release the code along with the product- but sadly, they don't.
This doesn't really apply to forum scripts (as they are in code form anyway), but what the heck- you would never see the "creator" release the code to everyone, just the ones that bought the program.
The robot looks like it costs over 10 grand...
You would need a guide dog to maul thief that tries to steal the robot, so no, I think the dog will be here until Kingdom comes.
Short answer: no
:) , but this is the whole point: we, as Asin, likes to rip off others, modify it a bit, and put in our own name.
long answer: no, we like to rip off other people's programs.
Case in point: Western people developed a few forum scripts (vBulletin, phpBB, Invision, YaBB, etc.)- you rarely see forum that uses scripts other than the ones above.
If you look at the chinese forum community, however, you will go OMFG how many forum softwares are there?!!! It seems that each forum has its own script (with its own name) that incidentally looks a lot like their western counterparts.
Of course thse scripts are rip-off
I am not very fond of this practice mind you.
This is just asking for trouble. As most of you would probably imagine, some self-proclaim "comdeian" would post either porn pictures, or pictures that resembles porn body position.
;)
.
They would need a team of outsource Indian workers to go through each picture one by one!
I am not Indian but...can I apply for the image filtering job?
I said this first, I should get the job