[INTERESTING ARTICLE; See Page 8] Discussion: Thoughts on Piracy

[Kreekakon]

@Your Computer: I feel like this exchange is gradually reaching its close. Just so you know, I don't entirely disagree with all your points. I'm mainly trying to use this discussion as a learning experience for me :)

Plus, if a person be so incompetent in art without image- or sound-manipulation software, then perhaps they are designed to fail. How do you think people manage to create a work of art without software? You require this knowledge of the past to master everything the software provides. Without it, you'll be blown away by the competition. If pirating software implies a higher chance of failure of making a large impact on the market, why argue that piracy is (or can be) beneficial?

People who wish to create art do indeed need basic artistic talents in more traditional forms I agree. However, without the software, they are then unable to take their "next step" in moving towards digital manipulation. Sure they can probably learn said skills at school, or similar facility that has purchased the software legally, but if they wished to do things on their own time at home, having a copy of said software at home can massively increase production effectiveness. I'm not saying it would be impossible to keep going back to school, or someplace else to do it, it would just be so much simpler for the creator. Also, most of these works will not affect the market in any way, it's just that the amount of digital work that we could have been treated to would very well be lessened.

Schools and business would be perfectly fine reusing older versions of software. This would force companies like Adobe to either reconsider their prices or increase quality for their products to justify the price or both. Plus, Adobe gives discounts to schools and students for most of their products, and their upgrade prices are pretty reasonable. A free version of their products is not required. And what about an individual who never had to purchase the product because their school or job provided it for them?

Actually, from what I see currently at least, schools, and businesses seem fine with the current price tag Adobe has out for them, since they can easily afford it as they are usually reasonably-sized organizations. A halt of piracy should actually be no problem for them. What I was concerned about in my last post were the individuals who were wishing to create their own work like what I said in my statement under the first quote in this post. Take these people out of the equation, the market can stay virtually unchanged I think, but we would have far less creative pieces than we do now on display. It's not a market loss, it's more of a sentimental one.

As for individuals who never had to purchase the software because of their school, or job...if they're allowed to bring it home then that's all fine, and dandy. If they can't though, it's like I said before, convenience would be extremely hampered when you wanted to create an off-the-record piece of work. 300+ dollars is a pretty hefty price for an average consumer to be rid of that inconvenience.