Time to end piracy....at least to an extent.

[Faun]

DRM is not evil, it is just implemented incorrectly due to no common unifying standard. If we provide everything DRM free then whats stopping you from buying a Song of Chandni Chowk to China for Rs 10 U distributing it over Bluetooth or via Internet to all the friends you have. This means a lost sale to the content creator, which is why DRM was made at the first place.

Understand the mentality of people dude, not many people in India follow the philosophy "We will buy it, if it is good". People will want to save there money even if it is good & if they are getting it free instead of paying for it.

If you want your game to work like that, then you will love to use Steam.

Content creator doesn't get a dime out of DRM. It's the publishers and RIAA who get, they are like middle man. If only we can get content directly from creators then we can have it for a fairly decent price.

Artists are under contracts with publishers at the stake of their freedom to distribute their media elsewhere. Publishers cripples artists and then consumers. In the end its the win win scenario for publishers, both artists + consumers loses and yield to the terms of publishers.

Today Internet is the largest medium to make your voice hear, piracy is the way to get popularize without any middleman taking credit. Some of the artists have realized it and used piracy to become popular.

This is what Mike says - "I'm just happy that people get to see my movies. I'm not a big supporter of copyright laws in this country…I don't understand bands or filmmakers…who oppose sharing, hav[ing] their work being shared by people, because it only increases your fanbase."

Old must wear out completely to begin anew. DRM is the last nail to the coffin (I hope so). Artists should reach consumers directly.

Not just Indians yaar...it's human psychology. Why pay for something which u can get for free. In any community, there will be x% of people who think like this. It's the other (100-x)% who will pay for software. And when the price of the product decreases, this x% keeps decreasing.

Challenge for the companies is to find the right price for their product - depending on their strategy - whether they are looking to increase their topline or bottomline.

Agree, dont stereotype Indian's at greedy. Every being is like that, its innate and been perpetuating from eons.

 

[gxsaurav]

Yeah..thinking of it like hardware....say your friend has an amazing piece of hardware for which he paid 10k. And suppose you can just take a photocopy of that hardware and use it at your home without paying anything. And your friend's copy is not affected in any way. It's only the hardware company that has potentially lost one customer. But you would never have paid 10k to buy that hardware anyway (since you aren't so rich anyway). So effectively nobody loses anything. Now it doesnt sound so bad, does it ?

It does. You are making money using that photocopied item but you are not paying money to the original manufacturer of the hardware which they deserve. This is the reason software is priced high.

Microsoft doesn't care if casual home users are using Pirated Windows cos they usually get it via OEM & those who are getting it pirated are still using Windows & MS isn't spending any money in giving them phone support. If you didn't buy Windows, then you have no right to scold Microsoft if they released a version of Windows Update which doesn't work on Non-genuine copies.

When a customer pays hard earned money for your product, he would expect it to be in the best possible form, not in some crippled and restricted format.

The customer pays for the work of all the developers & designer who made that software. Even they have families to run.

Sadly DRM and copy protection is still working to some extent (in preventing casual piracy). If anyone is serious on pirating the product, there are still 100 ways to do it (and regardless of whatever DRM comes in, it will still be cracked). However the direction is wrong, and customers might take it, up to a limit. When they reach the point where it gets too much, they'll just go for the cheap and easy option - pirate it and then who loses?

If you need it so badly, consider paying for it to the developer who used his manpower to create it.

Just setting a right price according to market is enough to prevent Piracy, isn't this our conclusion so far?

 

[Aberforth]

Source please.

According to World Economic Outlook Database of 2008, released by IMF, India's per capita GDP corrected to PPP is $ 2,563/year. The same for European Union is $32,000. Simple mathematics shows that the purchasing power of Indians is 1/12th that of European average.

I picked up DVDs of new Hollywood releases for 10 Euros in the stores of Lyon and Geneva, while the same costs Rs.699 in the stores of Delhi. It turns out that the movies sold in EU are cheaper by INR 50 compared to what they sell for in India.

Those who are able to buy an original XBOX 360 are the kind of crowd which spends Rs 5k a month on weekend parties in Mcdonald etc. They can easily pay 1k for games, just that they won't as it is not something "physical".

Red herring. Only a miniscule percentage computer gamers in India can afford XBOX 360s or 5K McDonald parties. A sixteen year old Indian who gets a pocket money of less than Rs. 600 a month can't afford games worth Rs. 2000 or new movies worth Rs. 699 upwards. Thats a wide contrast to European teenagers who can afford games and movies much more easily with their pocket money of 100 euros and above.

A little personal anecode will put that in order. When I was 16, I had to tutor my neighbour's 'Class 1' kid at Rs.300/month for almost a year just so that I could afford a Sony Walkman. If an American 16 year old tried as hard, he could afford a Digital SLR camera.

ganda hai par dhanda hai yeh....

If that be so, then it is fair that the Indian people play dirty by doing what they can...

Just don't think of it as a software, think of it as a product which you will use for the next many years to come.

Think of it this way. If you buy a PC at 20K, you can sell it 3 months later at 10K. At the worst case, you can sell it as scrap and get a small value on it. If you buy a copy of Windows Vista Home Premium at 9K, its resale worth is pretty much nothing. (That is, if you find someone who is willing to buy a second hand copy of Windows Vista.) One has to delude himself/herself to imagine a software as a material product. It isn't.

If you can buy a PC hardware for 20K which you plan to use for the next 3 years, then what problem do you have in paying Rs 2k for an OS which you will also use for the next 3 years & beyond that.

Oh please! Which usable Microsoft OS sells for Rs. 2K? I emphasise 'usable' to imply the 'Starter Editions' of Microsoft OSes.

I have seen people paying Rs 15 for a ring tone from Indiatimes.com which they don't use for more then 10 days & seen subscribing to caller tune for Rs 30 a month but they are not ready to Pary Rs 20 for a full song. Idiots indeed....

Rs. 30 to pick a song for a month doesn't hit the average Indian pocket as much as a Rs.399 CD of 10 songs, 9 of which the customer doesn't want.

The customer pays for the work of all the developers & designer who made that software. Even they have families to run.

By providing customers a deliberately 'handicapped' product, the families of the developers won't be run better. They are annoying genuine customers while the pirate has the last laugh, paying nothing for a software that he runs without the 'handicap' of the original software.

 

[PaulBarber]

It does. You are making money using that photocopied item but you are not paying money to the original manufacturer of the hardware which they deserve. This is the reason software is priced high.

Nope buddy...this is not the reason software is priced so high!!. It is priced so high bcos prices are at developed economy (US/Europe) rates which we poor Indians cant reasonably afford. Using a convoluted argument that my rates are high bcos I know all of you are pirates anyway, is a self defeating argument (kind of like a self fulfilling prophecy) that makes u sound suspiciously like RIAAA

Microsoft doesn't care if casual home users are using Pirated Windows cos they usually get it via OEM & those who are getting it pirated are still using Windows & MS isn't spending any money in giving them phone support. If you didn't buy Windows, then you have no right to scold Microsoft if they released a version of Windows Update which doesn't work on Non-genuine copies.

Who's complaining ?? Not me. Whoever is complaining should go and promptly buy a genuine copy of Windows at the retail price. Microsoft has every right and reason to withhold updates to non-genuine users. Hell...make non-genuine copies completely stop working...and uncrackable...that's the best thing. That way Linux will get a HUGE break. But you know as well as I do that M$ wont ever do that. They can't afford to, and we all know why

The customer pays for the work of all the developers & designer who made that software. Even they have families to run.
If you need it so badly, consider paying for it to the developer who used his manpower to create it.

Completely agreed. I'm not advocating piracy here. Whoever put in money and effort to create the software have every reason to get money in return. But unlike material goods, each copy of a software doesn't cost the developer incremental sums of money. There's such a HUGE untapped market, especially in home/consumer software and media market. Play the high volume-low margin game and there's loads of money to be made. But corporations are sticking to the old game where they try to sell each copy at maximum profit- consumer be damned.

Just setting a right price according to market is enough to prevent Piracy, isn't this our conclusion so far?

No...not to prevent piracy. But to ensure enough people buy the software so that the developer earns his due income and doesnt have to resort to $hit like DRM and alienate his customers

 

[gopi_vbboy]

Piracy FTW

Why all here are speaking so much philosophies here with no conclusions

All that Microsoft policies are totally aimed at slave corporates users ....Microsoft wont care more abt old softwares pirated now......as the would loose their existing market share......Linux is way hunting M$ the other way......

So only a change in software distrubution Architechture can help to

 

[Liverpool_fan]

I personally dont care about Microsoft or Adobe regarding piracy. But games should only be brought original particularly if they are so value for money such as GTA IV or Orange Box.

 

[Nuxer]

My doubts about Piracy

1. All we know that movie or music downloading from torrents is illegal. But in the case of wallpapers, is it legal or not?

2. Downloading ringtones, mobile wallpapers etc from zedge like site is legal or not?

 

[ionicsachin]

^
1) While downloading wallpapers look for the disclaimer there, coz some wallpapers might be available for purchase and downloading them might be illegal. Its like you are not permitted to take someones pic without permission.
2) Same goes here. But such website mention that they are hosting these files only for previewing and are not responsible if people download and use it. In such case we become culprit without knowing.

 

[Liverpool_fan]

^^
Also not all Movies and Music downloads are illegal. Some movies are legal to be shared under Creative Commons.
*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons

 

[ajaybc]

^^WTF?

 

[supercow]

Fighting piracy without a change of pricing strategy is a very tough game in price sensitive markets like India and China. People will always pirate software and find new ways to break copy-protection measures because they simply can't afford the prices at which movies, music, games and software sells in India.

The pricing of softwares and games in India is on par with their prices in the EU and US. However, the income and purchasing power of the average Indian is less than 1/20th of the average European or US income which brings a disparity in prices and purchasing power.

It is ironic that technology giants outsource their processes to India because they know India is a low-income country where people will work for a job at 1/10th of the salary they'd have to pay an American employee. Yet, the same companies are not willing to reduce the prices of their products so that they are compatible to the lower incomes of Indians. They want to have it both ways - save money with cheap labour and earn high profits by pricing their products at part with American prices.

Because of this reality, my sympathies for piracy is limited only to those companies which price their products in the affordable range and yet get shortchanged by software pirates. I can't feel sorry for Bill Gates that 80% of Windows used in India is pirated.

YES I also agree with you.

 

[gopi_vbboy]

In India everything is legal

 

[Liverpool_fan]

In India everything is legal

Please don't make such generic statements that too on Republic Day.

 

[Faun]

^^Ram Sena celebrated it in advance

 

[Liverpool_fan]

^^Ram Sena celebrated it in advance

<off topic>
Our country would be much better without the * senas.
</off topic>

 

[avinash.gamerboy]

Dont end piracy *i95.photobucket.com/albums/l134/Damatte-yo/GIF/itcantbemnky.gif

 

[mumble]

its a nice initiative for 450 rs, but gta4 guys mite ve got enough money too from hardware producers. and i think 300 rs for 3 plain dvds is nonsense as root post states.

hope new game titles come around 300 bucks to bring piracy down to 60%.

i think, no other go.

 

[victor_rambo]

Same goes here. But such website mention that they are hosting these files only for previewing and are not responsible if people download and use it. In such case we become culprit without knowing.

Don't accuse yourself so soon. Legally, you should ask the publishers that who gave them the permission to distribute reviews copy?

These days, there are too many n00bs trying to double up as attorneys/lawyers! Give them a fck!

 

[kuki_295]

1. Most of the software out there are very expensive.
Softwares i use
vista ultimate - 10750 Rs
Adobe photoshop - 27000 Rs
Adobe soundbooth - 27000 Rs
Adobe premiere pro - 33750 Rs

And many more small ones so u can sum up the total price.

2. Availability of original games i had to look for battlefield 2142 for about 4 months until i bought it on ea link for about 45 $.
in small citys(like mine Kota) u can't find any original games.i am not talking about small games i mean cod4 left 4 dead and teamfortress 2.But i have bought them all on steam and they are still expensive.
Orang box - 2500 Rs
COD 4 - 2000 Rs
Left 4 dead- 2000Rs

So just gta4 is cheap all other are expansive.

 

[ionicsachin]

I think if software we need is expensive then we shud look for open source counterpart. Thank God that we dont have hardware piracy, otherwise we wud have cards with the same power of GTX295 but at a dumb less price