Latest member reviews of listed products
-
Apple 23-inch Cinema Display
Review: My Cinema Display is amazing. I have enjoyed it so much all these months that I couldn't ask for more, other than another one to have… -
Apple Apple TV
Review: The Apple TV is a great addition to Apple's hardware for our Digital Life. I love my Apple TV and use it all the time. I watch all… -
Apple iWork 08
Review: I think I will never go back to using Microsoft Office thanks to Apple's new iWork, and Pages bundles. These are some of the best programs… -
Apple iPhone
Review: Overall I love the iPhone. I use it a lot, all of the features all the time. Something that I never did when I owned a Palm 700p.…
Editorial, News
By Marco Sebastian
Software pirating has been happening for years, and it will continue to happen in the future. The thing is, pirating has been rising dramatically, and people are not buying software anymore because for some, it’s getting too expensive, for others it’s just easy to pirate software.
One of the main questions I’ve asked myself recently is, “Why pirating has increased in the past few years?” I might have come up with a theory on that. We all have to realize a large contributor to this is the Internet, but the Internet has also served as a very important tool to revolutionize the way developers are able to get their applications to the consumer. This has also allowed developers to start their own business much quicker, program applications and sell them to the consumers. Shareware software would be nothing without the Internet, as simple as that. Large software developers like Adobe wouldn’t be where they are now if it wasn’t for the Internet either. Could you imagine software updates without the Internet? I know some of these are broad statements, and some of you might have wondered about this before, but I’m just trying to make a point.
As we all know, the Internet also enables developers to constantly release updates of their software. This is great for the consumer because any bugs the software has, we don’t have to wait long before an update or patch is released to fix it. We have become such a fast paced society, information flows at a totally different level then it used to. With this in mind, I noticed developers are overcharging their customers for software updates that they shouldn’t be charging for. I’ve been reading stories all over the web on a few developers who will promise free future updates/upgrades if you buy their software, then they shaft the consumer with a new update/upgrade that requires them to pay for it.
I am no one to say how much or how often developers should be charging their customers for software updates, but they should play it clean like others. It’s much better to let the customer know ahead of time (before they buy the software) how much they will be paying for future updates or upgrades. That way the customer can plan ahead, and see if they are able to purchase their software.
Otherwise a customer feel deceived, and drives them to do things like pirating. It’s a simple thought process. Feeling deceived by the developer, letting the developer know, the developer doesn’t care, and it drives them to pirating future versions of their software.
Some developers need to learn how to manage software updates and embrace their customer-base. Pirating can’t all be blamed on the consumer, because the developers can be part of the problem and induce software pirating unwillingly just as much. All a customer wants is to be treated with dignity and respect. After all, aren’t they the few ones who pay the bills for many of these software developers in the first place?
One Response to “Pirating: Sometimes we can’t blame it all on the consumer”
-
James Rankin Says:
I haven’t experienced this myself, though having said that there is Adobe’s crazy, rip-off the Brits, pricing policy.
This trend is more likely to grow, as more and more developers will feel that if the big boys, so-to-speak, like Adobe, can get away with ripping us off, then it will be more than likely that more and more smaller outfits will also follow suit.