Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

strider777

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 6, 2008
2
0
I'm just too curious about what ever happens to the freakin pirates that gets the illegal version or mac os like leopard. What happens to them when they install it and it gets found out? Does the computer not work anymore or what?
 
his holiness comes down, rips out one of your ribs and uses it to pierce a huge gaping hole into your computer... rendering you and the computer completely...

common seriously, what do you want to hear?
 
I don't understand what you mean by "it gets found out." Like, the Mac gods realize that it's pirated and they quarantine the computer? :confused:
 
For a single individual downloading stuff ... likely they won't even look for you.

Be loud and make an ass of yourself, and you will likely get caught.

You have to make it worth their time to spend money on suing you.

If you are big time pirate or a business, the BSA will take care of you -- and with a million dollar reward (the up to clause) turning those people in is worthwhile to do.

They have usually likened the BSA to an armed IRS raid/audit -- since they can at times go in with armed law enforcement leading the way to secure the business for the software audit, which leads to big fines and lots of squirming.
 
I'm just too curious about what ever happens to the freakin pirates that gets the illegal version or mac os like leopard. What happens to them when they install it and it gets found out? Does the computer not work anymore or what?
I know what happened to a fellow who had a small print office with 10 Macs running one copy of Adobe Photoshop.

When Adobe caught up with them, they offered the following settlement in lieu of court. They needed to purchase 10 legitimate full (not upgrade) copies and they were fined around 40 grand.

They have to use Windows ME for the rest of their days.
Oh, wow...that's worse than having to eat feet fungus for a year.
Windows ME. The horror. :D
 
99.9% of all individuals who pirate software are never caught. Unless you're part of a huge underground piracy ring uploading gigs and gigs of software, you pretty much have nothing to worry about. The individual pirating some software every now and again will not be caught. Law enforcement has far more important things to worry about.
 
I think what you really mean is "what will happen to me when I get caught pirating Mac software?" - otherwise, what is the sodding point of starting the thread? Naughty boy. I say: do it as little as possible.
 
lol turn myself in
i actually own the leopard os bought from an apple store the second day after it came out, couldnt get it the first day cuz i was just too lazy to line up.
i was just curious because there are people that i know that actually have the pirated version and i thought it wasn't suppose to work efficiently because i thought that you wouldnt be able to update it so some of the bugs or w/e would still be in it
 
Well, first, Steve Jobs will personally drive from Cupertino, CA to your house, kick your door in Chuck Norris style, and then place a "Banned by Apple in California" dunce cap on your head, and then make you parade around an Apple Store with a sealed box copy of Windows ME.

Once he's made an ass out of you, he'll take you home and then proceed with an assault by the almighty PR and legal teams to secure the premises of your home, take your computer and run it through a Blendtec blender (Will it blend? Yes! Yes it will!) and you'll wind up with pirated Apple smoke -- careful, don't breath this.

Okay, in all seriousness, if you're pirating a piece of software for individual use and don't plan on making copies or sharing it you would probably get away with it, although it is morally and ethically wrong, and the software could habe been tampered with, not to mention you don't get the privilege of upgrading to the next release without some sort of hassle. I wouldn't do it.
 
I know what happened to a fellow who had a small print office with 10 Macs running one copy of Adobe Photoshop.

When Adobe caught up with them, they offered the following settlement in lieu of court. They needed to purchase 10 legitimate full (not upgrade) copies and they were fined around 40 grand.


Windows ME. The horror. :D

Yeah...if you're running a business and have Adobe software, they will audit you. If you've got a "bootleg" of Photoshop at home, just don't register it and don't call for support if it breaks.
 
I think what the OP means is what happens in the future in regards to updates and such? Like how Microsoft makes you authenticate your Windows version and won't let you apply updates if the serial matches one of the pirated ones in their database.

As far as I know, Apple doesn't do anything like that, nor do most software manufacturers, for the most part. So, if you have an illegal copy of Leopard, you'll be fine. You'll be able to apply updates and everything.
 
Nothing Happens.

They like to go after people who Sell Pirated Software, not nessessarly use it.

But its really a whole nother issue.
 
I'm just too curious about what ever happens to the freakin pirates that gets the illegal version or mac os like leopard. What happens to them when they install it and it gets found out? Does the computer not work anymore or what?

Steve Jobs dies a little inside.

And yes, your computer will cease to function, causing you to have to go out and buy another computer that will come with Leopard on it. It's da truff.
 
...
i was just curious because there are people that i know that actually have the pirated version and i thought it wasn't suppose to work efficiently because i thought that you wouldnt be able to update it so some of the bugs or w/e would still be in it

it doesn't work like that. they have no idea how/where you got your copy of [whatever] so usually you can run your updates without incident. a cracked software serial number can sometimes stop working when you update though and then you have to wait for another cracked serial number to come out before that application will work properly again. pirates usually wait before updating hastily. yarrrrr!
 
Yeah, note the only difference between a retail copy of Leopard and a pirated copy of Leopard is that the retail copy has a prettier DVD. Other than Adobe and Microsoft, a lot of software is based on trust. They HOPE you won't pirate it, though technically you usually can.
 
yes, adobe and microsoft have put in very heavy measures to try and stop piracy. Of course, they've spent millions, possibly billions of dollars on these anti-piracy systems. For most software developers, spending millions of dollars to keep people from using your software (legally or not) is like paying someone a fee to garnish a large percentage of your wages and give them back to your boss each week.

Of course, even with draconian anti-piracy measures, microsoft and adobe are the two most-pirated software companies. Makes you wonder why they put such invasive measures into their software, it doesn't seem to work. Also unfortunate is that the way the protection works puts up pretty big hurdles for regular users doing regular things. If I have windows on my PC and I want to install a new graphics card and add a new hard drive, it just might be enough change to force me to re-activate my copy of windows...
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.