--- feba thatl [email protected] wrote:
Do you think it's alright if it replaces the purchase of a legit copy, as it hurt's MS's profit margin?
This argument appears regularly in news about the MPAA/RIAA's strongarm techniques to try and reduce and eliminate music and video piracy: the "stick it to the man" argument. The problem with this reasoning, as FOSS creators, indie bands, and indie film producers will be only so happy to point out, is that the music, movie, and software corporations are overstating their profit losses due to piracy, and your "act of rebellion" is like jumping up and down really hard on the Earth and expecting some dramatic change.
The other point those independent, low-budget producers make is that every time you download a new illegal MP3 copy, illegal movie copy, or illegal software copy, you have extended the market share of the corporation and reduced the already tiny market share of the free music/video/software group. You may not have paid for that MP3, but your friends will hear it and some of them will buy the CD to have the music for themselves, negating the entire "hurts their profit margin" argument.
The same is true for the software industry: if your friends are never exposed to anything other than Windows, and never accidentally discover it on your home PC, then they will shell out money to Microsoft for more legal copies of Windows. Monopolies benefit from piracy in ways where smaller companies do not, because monopolies are dependent on brand loyalty to reinforce their monopolies.
Frankly, "Genuine Windows Advantage" is Microsoft shooting itself in the foot, because not only does it discourage Microsoft piracy, it encourages those who do engage in piracy to create unprotected Windows machines which reduce the security of legal Windows machines. Don't get me wrong, piracy is not a good thing, but if Microsoft was only thinking about its bottom line then "Genuine Advantage" was thought up by someone who was neither an accountant nor an engineer, though certainly by someone who thinks that Microsoft is not a monopoly.
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