Categories: Science and Tech

The other night, last week I think it was, as I sat at my computer typing, I heard on the 8 o’clock news that Jamaica’s gonna be cracking down on software piracy. Apparently the U.S. thinks that our government isn’t doing enough to battle software piracy, and gave us a low grade on some anti-piracy chart they cooked up. When did it become America’s job to judge the world anyway? And as expected, the government reacted, almost instantaneously, which is strange for our government. This, despite the fact that movie piracy in Jamaica has been going on for years. We don’t want Mother ‘Merica to pry our lips off the nipples of her huge, silicone-filled boobs do we? They vowed to crack down on software piracy, and even came up with an ad.

I saw the ad, which featured people pleading to give them a chance to make a profit off their work. It didn’t have the effect on me that the government would’ve wanted. A cynical grin was my only response. Do they really think that an ad is going to stop us? Show me a Jamaican computer without some form of pirated software, music or movies and I’ll show you someone with barely enough tech savvy to operate MS Office. And I’m sure the same is true with computers worlwide. The only way they’d stop us is if they’d drag us all to jail, kicking and screaming. Most of us wouldn’t fare well there. Boba_115 would be no match for Bubba. In fact he’d be his bitch almost instantly, losing his dignity and of course, his anal viginity. Talk about being “penalized.”

I’m not saying that I’ve got pirated software on my computer. Then again, I’m not saying I don’t. I’ve read too many stories of bloggers putting their foots in their mouths. And though my blog may not be as popular as theirs, you never know who may be reading. I’m not against software companies making a buck, but $600US for a piece of software in this day and age is just ridiculous. And no, it won’t make your software seem “elite” if its overpriced, it will just lead to it getting cracked. People are getting smarter…well, not everyone, considering the bull that goes on everyday. Mostly geeks, and we were pretty smart to begin with. People aren’t gonna drop a fistful of cash to purchase a piece of software as they once did. The P2P and Open Source movements have grown in popularity, meaning that people are far less willing to shell out cash for software. But software companies don’t want to let go of their profit margins, even though technology costs go down.

I say to you software companies, be more flexible. Demos are a start yes, but most demos are 30 days long, and the average computer user isn’t going to get much use out of that. Give us free versions of your commercial software with limited capability but with unlimited use, like AVG. I use AVG, and it’s excellent. I wouldn’t be against buying the commercial version. That’s because I have developed a love for the software, something that can’t be done in 30 days. Or better yet, turn your whole operation open source. Linux and Mozilla are open source, and they’re faring a hell of a lot better than those no name software companies who charge you $25US for software that merely simplifies complex system tasks. We geeks are a passionate set, and we love open source/free software, and we’ll be the first ones to reccommend them to a friend. But if you decide to be all greedy and inflexible, trust me, we’ll find a way around you and your pathetic “security measures.” Plus crackers are both celebrities and heroes in geek culture, an added motive to crack software. So despite the increasingly complex software restrictions, threatening lawsuits, and complaints about dwindling profits, software piracy will continue. Deal with it.