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Do people pirate software for the Mac?
- Thread starter Boesky
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There will always be software piracy on [put any platform name here]... But personnally I like the fact that MacOS == UNIX. A lot of free (open source) software available!
Its rare to get a virus on a any apple computer. This is why there are A LOT of Macintosh owners that pirate software.
It's only right to pay for software. It's a product that took effort to create, test, distribute, etc. Even freeware authors will often accept contributions towards their maintenance and enhancement efforts.
So since it takes work to create good software, the same as it takes work to frame out a house or put on its roof, and since we pay carpenters for their work, why would one imagine that software developers work for nothing?
So since it takes work to create good software, the same as it takes work to frame out a house or put on its roof, and since we pay carpenters for their work, why would one imagine that software developers work for nothing?
There are lots of cracked apps and yes someone has payed for photoshop or they wouldnt be in business. Check out Gimp before you crack photoshop!
Ideally yes.Unfortunately, it's not always the case in practice.
Agreed, but with so many cheap or free alternatives, doing the right thing should be easy for most of us. Some people will always pirate. I find myself using demos for one-off tasks, and really only crack/pirate when it's not a fully-featured demo. I've done it in the past, but not so much anymore, as I don't have the need.
Free alternatives are available for a lot of things on both Mac and windows.
Regarding Photoshop, I was able to get a promo copy of Pixelmator, which, for what I do, will be plenty. I also got an NFR (not for resale, non-upgradable) copy of Aperture, iLife '08 and iWork '08, so I think I'm good.
(Wish I hadn't given away my copy of leopard, but I didn't have a mac and any new mac would already have it installed). Got my vista ultimate from microsoft for participating in a program, office 2003 came from an old dell (it's a hologram disk and it worked, so I guess it's kosher) and AutoCAD Civil 3D came from work.I actually understand your point.Agreed, but with so many cheap or free alternatives, doing the right thing should be easy for most of us. Some people will always pirate. I find myself using demos for one-off tasks, and really only crack/pirate when it's not a fully-featured demo. I've done it in the past, but not so much anymore, as I don't have the need.
Free alternatives are available for a lot of things on both Mac and windows.
Regarding Photoshop, I was able to get a promo copy of Pixelmator, which, for what I do, will be plenty. I also got an NFR (not for resale, non-upgradable) copy of Aperture, iLife '08 and iWork '08, so I think I'm good.
I tend to try demo-ware before buying, but some of it is completely useless (i.e. similar to security demos, that only scan & scare the crap out of people to sell thier worthless offering). Some of it works, but is too limited to test properly. On the professional side, the demos are fully functional, and at least allows me to see what I'm getting before I buy. But there's a MASSIVE price difference as well (under $100 vs. $500 - $10K). That doesn't mean I've not thought about it though.
So far, I've managed not to, as I've been able to find something else, locate enough reviews (sources I've come to trust), used return policies, or just did without.
If demos disappear (or get so bad that it's effectively the same), then the piracy will not only continue, but get worse IMO.
Some of them become scientitst, engineers, businessmen...
Do you really expect a student to pay for SAS, Matlab, Oracle etc?
I am happy enough to have an employer paying for the software I need.
If it takes a pirated copy of anything to train a powerfull mind of a broke person, I won't really feel sorry about the companies.
That's what acedemic licensing is for, but unfortunately, isn't available on enough products IMO, or the pricing is still out of reach for college students.
That's what acedemic licensing is for, but unfortunately, isn't available on enough products IMO, or the pricing is still out of reach for college students.
Or number 3, is that the education version watermarks "EDUCATION VERSION" across your entire document and can't be submitted as such...
looking at you, AutoCAD
(fortunately, I never took a CAD class, so I didn't have to be bothered by it)
Maya is awesome for the simple fact that they have/had the PLE (personal learning edition). A full version that could be used for learning and non-commercial purposes. More software companies should do this.
Microsoft has an awesome program for students called DreamSpark. You have to be a student, or married to one like I am
, but you can download some serious software for personal learning such as:Windows Server 2008 Standard
Windows Server 2003
Visual Server 2008 Professional
Visual Server 2005 Professional/Express
SQL Server 2008 Developer
Expression Studio 2
XNA Game Developer 3.0
It's a great way for people to get involved for things that will later make them, and Microsoft money. I got server 2008 that I'm going to set up as my home server. Hopefully someday I'll go back to school for Network Engineering, but this should get me started tinkering.
I paid for student versions of Matlab and SPSS (not SAS, but I didn't really use it). Very reasonably priced. They were also readily available in the labs.
Oracle is actually free for development purposes -- essentially without limitations. It has been for a long time. Since I'm sure you already knew this, I wonder why you use it as an example?
We had a site license for students for tons of software. They just needed to be on campus or VPN in and connect to the license server.I paid for student versions of Matlab and SPSS (not SAS, but I didn't really use it). Very reasonably priced. They were also readily available in the labs.
Oracle is actually free for development purposes -- essentially without limitations. It has been for a long time. Since I'm sure you already knew this, I wonder why you use it as an example?
Seriously, spending the time to pirate when you could just ask the department IT staff to install it for you.
Last I used AutoCAD via an academic license, it didn't do that. But it had some limitations. That was ~13 years or so ago.Or number 3, is that the education version watermarks "EDUCATION VERSION" across your entire document and can't be submitted as such...
looking at you, AutoCAD
(fortunately, I never took a CAD class, so I didn't have to be bothered by it)
Some I use now (EDA suites), still have features or other capabilities the Student Ed. isn't capable of. For example, with NI MulitSIM, the project size is limited (physical area, layers, part count), and contains a very small component library.
It's good for basic course work, but won't really do much else. So if the project is more complicated, particularly applicable to senior projects, or graduate students, they're stuck if the university doesn't allow them access to use the full version on school systems or via remote access.It's a problem on some software yet, as I presume the developer is terrified it will be used for "commercial purposes" after they graduate, and won't get the full purchase price before an upgrade.
I paid for student versions of Matlab and SPSS (not SAS, but I didn't really use it). Very reasonably priced. They were also readily available in the labs.
Oracle is actually free for development purposes -- essentially without limitations.
It has been for a long time. Since I'm sure you already knew this, I wonder why you use it as an example?
I didn't know about Oracle to be honest.
Student versions require proof of student status. Not sure how this works with universities outside the united states. It didn't work with my Uni back in the day.
I do prefere to use open source software. For example I use postgres and pgadmin for database management, open office, R instead of S-Plus or SPSS but still when you have an assignment and the software is only available in your lab, you download it and get done with it.
Or it's just me and I should be ashamed. But I really ain't since it helped become a better user/developer and being able to actually determine what I need and buy it.
I also wonder whether the people that call me and anyone else a thief download music, porn or tv-shows.
Yeah, now (or rather, towards the end of my PhD program) we had that too... actually I think we got it during my first year, but I had already bought SPSS:Mac during my post-bacc years. Since I only had SPSS 12, I never really used my copy after that, and just remote desktop'd to our department computers to use the current SPSS....
One can make all kinds of excuses. In the end, they're just excuses... it's one thing when one explores all reasonable options and finds none, but it's another when many reasonable options exist and one rejects them because one values one's convenience over the law or the welfare of others.
The way i see it,
~photoshop, i wouldnt buy it anyway and just use gimp instead
~ms office, i would buy but openoffice.org is just as good and for free so i use that
~matlab, if i had to buy it i wouldnt and just use the copy on uni computers
so really, the manufacturer hasnt lost out on any pirated software that i have used, because if i didnt get it free then i wouldnt get it.
With iLife and open office, handbrake, adium, the gimp, the mac is already pretty capable running on free software
~photoshop, i wouldnt buy it anyway and just use gimp instead
~ms office, i would buy but openoffice.org is just as good and for free so i use that
~matlab, if i had to buy it i wouldnt and just use the copy on uni computers
so really, the manufacturer hasnt lost out on any pirated software that i have used, because if i didnt get it free then i wouldnt get it.
With iLife and open office, handbrake, adium, the gimp, the mac is already pretty capable running on free software
Whatever a software pirate ends up doing for a living, surely he expects to be paid something for his labor. Else he is not making a living after all.
You do not really need to have SAS, Oracle, Matlab on your personal machine as a student. You can attend classes where the use of the software is provided as part of the instruction. You can work part time to help defray the cost of the classes. Sometimes you can get employer assistance for them.
When you're done with the classes, you move yourself and your knowledge to the employer's shop and he picks up the tab for the software installed there. If you are self-employed and require it, you can usually incorporate that expense into your initial business plan.
I too was grateful for having had employers pay for software I needed, so long as I could demonstrate a work-related need for it. And of course I was willing to work all night for free for a week, if necessary, to prove that need
Not sure where you're going with the idea that an impoverished student needs to pirate software to train up his mind. As others have pointed out, many expensive software suites have shareware or freeware counterparts.
You don't need Photoshop to get a grip on how Photoshop works. There are many inexpensive or free modules that instruct in the use of various techniques and tools. They come close nowadays to the look and feel of the various componenets of the expensive suite itself.
It's less the tools than your ability to understand what needs to be changed in the piece you want to work on. Once you get the hang of that, sure, Photoshop is very handy because it's all under one roof, so to speak. Still, there are all those other toolboxes and specialty modules out there, and they help keep Photoshop developers on their toes.
In the end, it's your designer's eye and your ability to understand which type of tool you need to fix that too-bright image, or make the figures in a report leap into focus and significance for an employer or client.
It's less about having a complete toolbox and more about knowing how a wrench, a screwdriver, a knife and hammer each work and when to reach for one or the other. Then you become the valued contractor or employee, and you will surely want people to respect the value of your own intellectual efforts and your own laboriously acquired skills.
I have focused more on Photoshop application here but similarly with database and mathematical applications, it's less the specific tools than looking at the situation and knowing what sort of work needs to be done, then reaching for that proper tool. I have to learn how every new cordless drill I encounter actually works, it's no big deal. What the big deal is, is knowing whether and where to drill the damn hole, and what kind of bolts or screws are going in there, no?
The more creatively you have had to think while helping pave your own way to the place where expensive software comes with the territory in your job, the more valuable you are to that employer.
Now take it back to where the developer is enhancing some feature of Photoshop! He works hard on this stuff, it's deadly tedious sometimes, as you may well know. So.... here I am, the Photoshop user, I will like to push a button and make this happen, this dev works six weeks so I can do that, seamlessly, without messing up existing features, and now I should think it's okay to steal what he helped to produce?
No way. Sorry if I sound all righteous and preachy but really, just no fricken way. There is always a right way to get where you're going. If you can't see it yourself, ask for help and be willing to work through the suggestions. You know geeks love to help other geeks, artists to help other artists. And lots of people in any field today will be able to suggest honest, inexpensive versions of toolbox items you need.
You do not really need to have SAS, Oracle, Matlab on your personal machine as a student. You can attend classes where the use of the software is provided as part of the instruction. You can work part time to help defray the cost of the classes. Sometimes you can get employer assistance for them.
When you're done with the classes, you move yourself and your knowledge to the employer's shop and he picks up the tab for the software installed there. If you are self-employed and require it, you can usually incorporate that expense into your initial business plan.
I too was grateful for having had employers pay for software I needed, so long as I could demonstrate a work-related need for it. And of course I was willing to work all night for free for a week, if necessary, to prove that need
Not sure where you're going with the idea that an impoverished student needs to pirate software to train up his mind. As others have pointed out, many expensive software suites have shareware or freeware counterparts.
You don't need Photoshop to get a grip on how Photoshop works. There are many inexpensive or free modules that instruct in the use of various techniques and tools. They come close nowadays to the look and feel of the various componenets of the expensive suite itself.
It's less the tools than your ability to understand what needs to be changed in the piece you want to work on. Once you get the hang of that, sure, Photoshop is very handy because it's all under one roof, so to speak. Still, there are all those other toolboxes and specialty modules out there, and they help keep Photoshop developers on their toes.
In the end, it's your designer's eye and your ability to understand which type of tool you need to fix that too-bright image, or make the figures in a report leap into focus and significance for an employer or client.
It's less about having a complete toolbox and more about knowing how a wrench, a screwdriver, a knife and hammer each work and when to reach for one or the other. Then you become the valued contractor or employee, and you will surely want people to respect the value of your own intellectual efforts and your own laboriously acquired skills.
I have focused more on Photoshop application here but similarly with database and mathematical applications, it's less the specific tools than looking at the situation and knowing what sort of work needs to be done, then reaching for that proper tool. I have to learn how every new cordless drill I encounter actually works, it's no big deal. What the big deal is, is knowing whether and where to drill the damn hole, and what kind of bolts or screws are going in there, no?
The more creatively you have had to think while helping pave your own way to the place where expensive software comes with the territory in your job, the more valuable you are to that employer.
Now take it back to where the developer is enhancing some feature of Photoshop! He works hard on this stuff, it's deadly tedious sometimes, as you may well know. So.... here I am, the Photoshop user, I will like to push a button and make this happen, this dev works six weeks so I can do that, seamlessly, without messing up existing features, and now I should think it's okay to steal what he helped to produce?
No way. Sorry if I sound all righteous and preachy but really, just no fricken way. There is always a right way to get where you're going. If you can't see it yourself, ask for help and be willing to work through the suggestions. You know geeks love to help other geeks, artists to help other artists. And lots of people in any field today will be able to suggest honest, inexpensive versions of toolbox items you need.
It sounds preachy because it is preachy. You asked the question, what do software pirates become when the grow up? A lot of the time, they end up as people who use the software legally. They also end up subsidizing the next generation of pirates.
Most of the guys I knew back in college had a pirated copy of something on their computers. Hell, most of the guys I knew who ran warez servers 10 years ago grew up, got real jobs/started their own businesses and are the ones paying for multi-seat licenses to run their shops and studios.