I think the reason he made no comment, is because piracy often helps companies rather then hurts them. Most students cannot afford certain software, and before companies had developer/student versions of things, students had to pirate software. By pirating and mastering software, they then went into the working world and since they were already familiar with the software, often compelled their company to buy it.
This is actually a good source of sales when you are not the market leader yet. Once you are the market leader, it becomes less effective, since it's likely that the company is already using your software. In most cases, however, I feel it's still beneficial, since it allows people, that otherwise would not be able to afford to software, to learn it and become productive with it, and as a result, the working world has more qualified software users. This is often why the expensive software that is very difficult to pirate often ends up costing a lot of money and not be widely used, because it doesn't get the word-of-mouth type advertising, and it's also very hard to find people familiar with it, and you often end up having to train them yourself. Just my $0.02. Russ > -----Original Message----- > From: Bruce Sorge [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 2:45 PM > To: CF-Talk > Subject: This is pretty funny (Source: Fox News) > > *BUCHAREST, Romania - Pirated Microsoft Corp. > (MSFT<javascript:stockSearch('MSFT');>) > software helped Romania to build a vibrant technology industry, Romanian > President Traian Basescu <javascript:siteSearch('Traian Basescu');> told > the > company's co-founder, Bill Gates <javascript:siteSearch('Bill Gates');>, > on > Thursday.* > > Basescu was meeting the software giant's chairman in Bucharest to > celebrate > the opening of a Microsoft <#> global technical center in the Romanian > capital. > > "Piracy helped the young generation discover computers <#>. It set off the > development of the IT industry in Romania," Basescu said during a joint > news > conference with Gates. > > "It helped Romanians improve their creative capacity in the IT industry, > which has become famous around the world ... Ten years ago, it was an > investment <#> in Romania's friendship with Microsoft and with Bill > Gates." > > Gates made no comment. > > Former communist Romania, which has just joined the *European > Union*<javascript:siteSearch('European Union');>, > introduced anti-piracy legislation 10 years ago but copyright > infringements > are still rampant. > > Experts say some 70 percent of software used in Romania is pirated, and > salesmen still visit office buildings in central Bucharest to sell pirated > CDs and DVDs. > > Foreign investors say Romania's IT sector is one of most promising > industries in the fast-growing economy thanks to high level of technical > education <#> in Romania, low wages - and the country's thriving > underworld > of computer hackers. > > > The best part: 'Gates made no comment'. I can imagine what he was thinking > though. LOL > -- > Bruce Sorge > > "I'm a mawg: half man, half dog. I'm my own best friend!" > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Upgrade to Adobe ColdFusion MX7 Experience Flex 2 & MX7 integration & create powerful cross-platform RIAs http:http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;56760587;14748456;a?http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=LVNU Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:268537 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
