obviouslogicalreason

[obviouslogicalreason]

Piracy? Is it right?

So, I’m writing this as I saw a post earlier today in regards to why piracy is good and how more people should commit piracy to destroy the corporations etc.  So to my understanding, piracy is a word used to describe the theft of ships cargo, sailors or the ships themselves. Piracy was state run and it was also committed by independent mercenaries etc.

Now when we look at piracy in the modern age, it’s generally used to refer to obtaining software illegitimately. However piracy is still a common problem to merchant, civilian and oil ships. But today I’d like to ask about digital piracy.  So, to confess, I have committed piracy at a young age. I didn’t understand the ramifications, let alone have the money to purchase genuine software. I had “ethically” pirated software before. There was a piece of software that I wanted to try, but no trial was available and it was difficult to justify spending the large $300 licence fee. I found the software to be of significant use to myself, so I decided to invest and purchase a genuine licence; I’m very happy that I have done so. Not only have I supported a small company, that’s gradually growing and attracting more sales, which ultimately results in more income and therefore more money for the company to develop and improve their software (Which also helped me further my own business and make money)  Recently, I’ve seen a lot of people praise piracy, specifically against adobe. I was lucky that my Mom was given a free copy of adobe photoshop 7.0 that I used to play about with as a child. I had obtained an illegitimate copy many years later. I didn’t have access to the older version anymore, but I gradually learnt and grew. Now over a decade later, I’ve been a proud subscriber to the Creative Cloud suite. I regularly use Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, Acrobat and premier. I’ve witnessed vast improvements in the software, the Ai and many of the features that the software offers its users. In my understanding, if companies don’t have funding, they will struggle to improve on what they offer. Many people curse adobe, and I understand that many people do not wish to pay the price. Perhaps look at alternative freeware. Granted it won’t be as advanced as adobe, it may not do everything you wish, but in my eyes, it’s a good trade-off.  I see a lot on “lost profit” and how pirating is simply copying and not “stealing” but there are thousands of people involved in software development, and by supporting the software ultimately supports these people, if a CEO or Director has no motive to make money, people lose out on jobs.  I rely on copyright protection, and It honestly saddens me when I spend several days working, only to have clients copy the work and re-produce without paying a small fee for my time. In my eyes, that’s the same as saying that a retail store will have you work the tills for the day, only to not pay you at the end of it. People rely on IP rights to help keep food on their table, some of these people are wealthy and earn hundreds of thousands, if not millions thanks to IP laws, while others like me just get by.  If you do want to use creative software below are some alternative suggestions to piracy: 

Photoshop alternative: 

Affinity Photo - ($49.99 one-off fee)

Photopea - Free

Gimp - Free

Lightroom alternative: 

Darktable - Free

Luminar - Free

Premier Pro alternative:

Davinci Reslove - Free

NOTE: I’d love to hear peoples responses, but please can we keep it polite, cut the hate and be civil on how you may see other points differently.