Software Piracy Rate To Be Reduced For Thailand´s Benefit

[anothertorres]

i have nothing to add to this thread other than JingThing's avatar looks like George Bush if George Bush came from Korat and was a red-shirt.

[wolf5370]

What a joke...

Hardly ... unless you consider the annual theft of billions of dollars of intellectual property and products to be a joke.

Hypothetically speaking, what if 30% of Thailand's annual rice exports or shrimp exports were being stolen? People would certainly pitch one helluva fit and rightly so. This is no different.

In this part of the world, the BSA is really targeting China, which is the world's leading exporter of pirated software, much of which finds its was to Thailand. For every company that is brought into compliance, it is one source for China to dump illegal software.

This is the usual nonsensical analogy. If 30% of rice was stollen, then there would be 30% less physical stock for them to sell. This is obviously not so with intellectual rights, there is no physical commodity, no loss of stock (unless the disks themselves are stolen, but then that is standard theft not intellectual rights theft then). Its a much harder argument to make with IR as there is no stock loss and there is often no sale potential lost either - with a Rolex copy, as said before byu someone, a person of moderate means would never buy an expensive watch, so if that person buys a copy, he is not a lost sale (he was never a potential sales).

What software companies are really after cracking down on is big companies that ARE potential sales opportunities using pirated software; it makes no sense to go after the man in the street in a poor country like Thailand. Closing down software pirate resellrs is even more pointless than arresting drug dealers - they are replaced immediately (any idiot can do it - and will for a few hundred Baht a day cut) and many people are now technically savy enough to type in "Windows 7 Ultimate Torrent" into Google.

What companies like MS needs to do is take note of what the drugs companies do. They make good margins in rich countries, and tiny margins in poor countries (making the money by keeping packaging costs etc down, using local suppliers in-country - and most importantly taking their profit by volume rather than margin). There is nothing stopping MS launching country specific versions of OS and other Software (most of their software is multi-lingual anyway, so would take little to lock it), maybe cut out some bells and whistles like local support etc, for much reduced prices and put in the local Eula it can not be used out of the country of purchase for more than say 30 days at a time (to cover business travellers and their laptops). In the west most new computers come with OS installed, why do they not here? Because there are no deals in place (because its cheaper for the PC sellers to sell the product with pirate OS and compete on price) - with a low cost OS (that people know and are not scared of - and many are by Linux, OSX, Snow Leopard etc) they can still compete on price. Why not make XP Home free now for example - pay if you want Pro etc. Most people would be happy with a legitimate XP Home rather than a pirate copy of Windows 7 as it would let almost all of the same software run.

If they don't consider real alternatives (that maybe only earns a small margin) then they truly are deceiving themselves that they will make any more impact on piracy as they have on the illicit drugs trade.

[Spee]

What a joke...

Hardly ... unless you consider the annual theft of billions of dollars of intellectual property and products to be a joke.

Hypothetically speaking, what if 30% of Thailand's annual rice exports or shrimp exports were being stolen? People would certainly pitch one helluva fit and rightly so. This is no different.

In this part of the world, the BSA is really targeting China, which is the world's leading exporter of pirated software, much of which finds its was to Thailand. For every company that is brought into compliance, it is one source for China to dump illegal software.

This is the usual nonsensical analogy. If 30% of rice was stollen, then there would be 30% less physical stock for them to sell. This is obviously not so with intellectual rights, there is no physical commodity, no loss of stock (unless the disks themselves are stolen,

Sorry, but I beg to differ. When a commodity like rice is stolen, it doesn't disappear. It goes underground and is sold illegally on the black market. Consumers aren't necessarily deprived of rice because of the theft. Only the producer and the middlemen pay the price.

So too with stolen software which also doesn't disappear. It too goes underground to be sold illegally on the black market. Again, only the producer and the middlemen pay the price. And there absolutely is a physical commodity product. It might be lines of code to be downloaded or a CD, but it's still a physical product.

Where there is a difference, is that one kilo of rice can be stolen and sold only once. Eventually, it gets consumed. On the other hand, stolen software can be copied and resold in volumes left up to the thieves.

[Heng]

Must be targeting 75%. IT guys here have told me that they get a phone call when inspectors are on the way.

Which would do nothing in a big organization unless you think any company can exchange all of their client or server software in a matter of hours.

That's when they try to convince folks that the whole organization is run off this one server and that guy standing over there with the laptop as the only tech.

Seriously though, a lot of businesses (especially the legions of SME's which are the worst offenders in terms of numbers; and with smaller business you could zig zag your way to get by an inspection or raid) are getting legal. Too many cross district (meaning no warning time) raids going on.

[t.s]

I'm sure many Thais would gladly buy Windows 7, for example, if it didn't cost Baht 10,000 ...more than most Thais earn in one month.

Plenty of alternatives to Microsoft OS, many of them cost nothing and are arguably better.

Don't have to steal.

you can keep your "arguably better" alternatives.

[Sisaketmike]

This is very funny. i have worked at a top government university since before Abhisit became Prime Minister. The software on our department's computers (and I know at least three other departments where it is the same...) always cause the windows warning....your software is not legal or something similar. Are they going to crack down on the government offices also?

Most other schools in Thailand have been using copy software from when I first came to Thailand in the late 90's and bet they will be doing so for ages to come

It's not about Abhisit being PM. Other countries do not accept the Thai way of copying software, which could be a big problem in the near future, better said it already is. Lots of companies are losing big money because of piracy.

As far as I know, in most schools are XP copies running, an original XP Pro version is almost 5,000 baht.It's almost impossible for an 'ordinary' Thai, making 3,500/month to buy a genuine version.

To be perfectly honest, without criticizing anybody, lots of people working for the government don't even know the difference between a copy and the genuine version.

People who're purchasing a new PC or Notebook mostly get a copy on and they don't even know it.

I bought a brand new Dell notebook, when I picked it up there was this fake program on. Of course I bought a genuine version the same day.?

[Spee]

an original XP Pro version is almost 5,000 baht.It's almost impossible for an 'ordinary' Thai, making 3,500/month to buy a genuine version.

This is the oft-told excuse, and while it may be a valid reason to the "'ordinary' Thai," it's hardly anywhere near the heart of the matter. Hundred of millions of people around the world purchase bundled systems with preinstalled OS and apps, to take advantage of massive OEM licensing discounts. In short, the software is licensed for the lifetime of the hardware on which is was originally installed. It is not legally transferrable, and the license expires when the hardware goes to the scrap heap.

The problem is in the supply chain and the government. Why does it cost roughly the same amount of money to buy a good quality low end laptop with legal software at Best Buy or similar place in the west, as it does to buy a garage-built PC knock-off with crappy components and illegal software?

If Dell, AMD, Intel and Microsoft (for representative example) can build and price a bundled laptop or desktop machine with legal software for the $400-$500 entry level market in the US, they are perfectly capable of doing the exact same thing anywhere else in the world at an equivalent currency price point. Yet it doesn't happen, and I'm sure that the OEM suppliers are certainly trying. Why?

Government bureacracy creating barriers to entry? Excessive tariffs and taxes driving up the bottom line price? Too much black market money floating around and up to the powers that be? Companies unwilling to invest heavily in a market where thievery runs rampant and the authorities are uninterested in doing anything about it?

[britmaveric]

Funny stuff - more empty words. Anyways want piracy to go down you offer more affordable prices for legit copies. Really simple!

However as far as Tukom\Pantip goes more copied software there then any other place I've seen. Remember - no software is kept in the store where it's being sold - they need to go fetch it someplace. Reality is that this is a real money maker for the BIB and it won't change so let's stop thinking it will.

[Oberkommando]

If the originals of the software/movies/counterfeits were Thai in origin you'd see arrests and prosecutions galore.

[elkangorito]

Funny stuff - more empty words. Anyways want piracy to go down you offer more affordable prices for legit copies. Really simple!

However as far as Tukom\Pantip goes more copied software there then any other place I've seen. Remember - no software is kept in the store where it's being sold - they need to go fetch it someplace. Reality is that this is a real money maker for the BIB and it won't change so let's stop thinking it will.

Exactly right/correct!!!

Ya see, I can agree with you sometimes BM. It's becoming a habit so I should be more hostile toward you in your future posts to try to balance things.

[britmaveric]

^yes we are thinking more alike these days.

Personally I can afford normal prices for software and for the most part I do buy legit. However no way a thai person could afford photoshop suite or office ect if they had to pay the full price. If major software companies were serious about this then they would offer local prices for said software - granted fair enough it would be in the local language ect. One you eliminate security threats from pirated/virus laden software and you do something good for countries that can ill afford the same prices as in the western world.

[Publicus]

^yes we are thinking more alike these days.

Personally I can afford normal prices for software and for the most part I do buy legit. However no way a thai person could afford photoshop suite or office ect if they had to pay the full price. If major software companies were serious about this then they would offer local prices for said software - granted fair enough it would be in the local language ect. One you eliminate security threats from pirated/virus laden software and you do something good for countries that can ill afford the same prices as in the western world.

Good post. A rare burst of lotsa enlightening words with which few could disagree.

Edited April 29, 2010 by Publicus