Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

Flashback to 17 June 1991 - On software piracy

From time to time I include old personal essays which I wrote long ago - long before weblogs had been invented. There are a great many of these essays on a variety of subjects. They now seem like ancient history. This one was originally written 17 June 1991 on a monochrome Mac Classic using MacWrite II:

High Software Prices: Do they contribute to unauthorised copying and mediocre products and service?
By Paul R. Weaver.

There must be very few computer owning individuals in this competitive world who have not at some time or another acquired unauthorised copies of software. I would venture to suggest that if it were possible to examine the past software history of some of the most vocal individuals who now advocate draconian penalties for possessors of this stuff that they are not completely innocent themselves.

In a way they are like a person who has given up smoking and become the most vehement anti-smoking crusader who then determines to inflict the maximum misery on his or her colleagues who do not see things in quite the same light.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that the illegal entrepreneur who copies and sells other peoples’ software should not be dealt with harshly. They should, they are, and quite rightly too.

Over the years a lot of unauthorised copies for a variety of computers have come my way, and for the great proportion of them I can say that I am very glad that I was not the sucker who originally spent the outrageous sum of money to purchase what have largely been inferior, and not fully tested products.

For the most part they were looked at by me once, much as in the same way that an authorised demo copy is looked at, and then trashed, or relegated to the bottom draw, never to be looked at again.

As any recipient of unauthorised software would know, the major drawback is the lack of a manual. It is almost impossible to utilise much of this stuff effectively without the books, or otherwise embarking on hours of laborious trial and error.

Is it worth it? Well I don”t think so. Copying manuals, presuming one has access to them, and to a photocopier is inconvenient, costly, and the finished product looks awful. As for the trial and error I just don’t have the patience to waste hours experimenting with something that I may never use.

Despite having had access to much unauthorised copies of software, all the software which I use is in fact bona fide purchased copies. The decision to purchase them however has come from the favourable impression that was obtained from the original unauthorised copy, or an authorised demo copy distributed by the company. This latter strategy of sending demo disks to prospective clients has to be one of the greatest sales strategies ever conceived and yet few companies seem to have realised that for the comparatively minuscule cost a disk and postage they can obtain the complete attention of a prospective client for an amount of time which may run into hours. Neither have they realised that by introducing the prospective client to their latest product with a neatly packaged demo disk that they are installing in that person’s mind a powerful moral argument to strive for the legitimate authorised version.

Of course the real reason behind so much unauthorised copying activity is the outrageous cost which is charged for some of the software. Not infrequently the argument is put by companies and sales staff that high charges reflect the degree of intellectual capacity which went into producing the original work.

I tend to regard such statements as a load of old hogwash because the world is full of products which have required equivalent amounts of intellectual input and which are sold for a much lesser amount of money.

A perfect example is books. To produce good ones requires a huge effort, often taking years, but the great majority of them which are aimed at consumers stay priced under the $50 mark, and frequently a lot less. The trick to success in selling the product of intellectual output is to sell lots of it, at a price lots of people can afford.

It is no good bleating to the customer that the $100 book required $100,000 worth of R&D to produce. The customer simply doesn’t care. The decision to purchase a product results almost invariably from a combination of the client being mildly interested in the product and the degree of sensitivity of their hip pocket nerve. So too is the case with software. An $800 price tag may be acceptable for some but I would venture to say that the opportunity of a freeby, albeit unauthorised is too much of a temptation for the urban computer operator to pass up.

With the exception of the larger software companies, which seem to keep their prices down, I suspect that a clever researcher could determine a proportional ratio between retail cost and the number of copies sold for most types of software. The higher the price the less the number of copies which are sold. The result from this is a stagnant product, caused because of the minimal feedback from customers and the lack of incentive for the company to make further improvements. The inevitable result is the demise of the product and perhaps too, of the originating company.

It is interesting to consider the strategy which Macintosh have employed with the release of System 7. This software must have cost heaps to develop, and the intellectual concept of it is impressive, to say the least, but the company has authorised free distribution of it via user groups and the like. Attractive as this is there are a large number of disks required, and initially life with it would be difficult for most users without the manual. I suspect that while there certainly will be a proportion of people who will opt for the totally free path, most of us will succumb to purchasing the release version complete with the books, because while not actually cheap, it is nevertheless affordable.

Having once worked in the cinema industry for a number of years I am reminded of the adage “Bums on seats”. The philosophy behind the expression is to fill the theatres with people by offering a cheap admission prices and then increase the profits by having a well stocked candy bar.

It is a philosophy which many software companies would do well to emulate.

Paul R. Weaver, 17 June 1991.

© MMVI Paul R. Weaver.

About the writer

Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write a couple of million words.

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