Pirated software is on the increase and now accounts for over one third of the software installed on the world's computers and it's cost the software industry a staggering, $28bn (?12bn) last year in lost revenues. That's the startling claim of the UK based, Business Software Alliance. Their annual survey of global software piracy shows that some 36% of software applications were illegally installed and being used during 2003.
The study, conducted for the first time on behalf of the BSA by global technology research firm, International Data Corporation, incorporated major software market segments, including operating systems and consumer software and local market software. They discovered that while software costing $81bn (?38bn) was installed onto computers around the world, only $51bn (?23bn) was actually purchased and installed legally.
The USA and Canada who collectively are the most honest when it comes to purchasing software show a software piracy rate of 23% whilst the worst offenders are within the Eastern European countries, where piracy levels are an incredible 71%. It's difficult to draw any comparisons from previous years data as this is the first year the study has been out-sourced to an independent company and takes in a wider spectrum of software than the previous studies conducted in-house by the BSA. As well as counting the number of illegally produced software programs installed on systems, the study also includes software for where an insufficient number of site licenses have been purchased.
"Software piracy continues to be a major challenge for economies worldwide," said Robert Holleyman, president and CEO of BSA. "From Algeria to New Zealand, Canada to China, piracy deprives local governments of tax revenue, costs jobs throughout the technology supply chain and cripples the local, in-country software industry."
Mr Holleyman went on to say, that the IDC study reflects a logical evolution in BSA's decade-long effort to measure piracy in the global economy. Its scope was expanded to account more accurately for trends such as the growth of local software markets worldwide and the acceleration of Internet piracy.
For its analysis, IDC drew upon its worldwide data for software and hardware shipments, conducted more than 5,600 interviews in 15 countries, and used its in-country analysts around the globe to evaluate local market conditions. IDC identified the piracy rate and dollar losses by utilizing proprietary IDC models for PC, software and license shipments by all industry vendors in 86 countries.
The study found that the size of a regional software market is the critical link between piracy rates and actual dollars lost. For instance, 91 percent of software installed in the Ukraine in 2003 was pirated, as compared to 30 percent in the U.K. But dollar losses in the U.K. ($1.6 bn) were about 17 times higher than those in the Ukraine ($92.1m). This difference is attributed to a much larger total PC software market in the U.K. than in the Ukraine.
"A number of factors contribute to the regional differences in piracy, including local-market size, the availability of pirated software, the strength of copyright laws, and cultural differences regarding intellectual property rights," said John Gantz, Chief Research Officer at IDC. "Unfortunately, we found that high market growth regions also tend to be high piracy regions, such as China, India and Russia. If the piracy rate in emerging markets ? where people are rapidly integrating computers into their lives and businesses ? does not drop, the worldwide piracy rate will continue to increase."
"The fight for strong intellectual property protection and respect for copyrighted works spans the globe, and there is much work to be done," Mr Holleyman said. "BSA will continue to work with governments to enact policies to protect software intellectual property as well as implement programs to raise business and consumer awareness about the importance of copyright protection for creative works. Lowering the piracy rate will stimulate local economic activity, generate government revenue, create job growth and cultivate future innovation."
Countries with Highest Piracy Rate:
Countries with Lowest Piracy Rate
Related links: http://www.bsa.org/, http://www.bsa.org/
About The Author
Robert Palmer is CEO of deskNET Communications (http://www.desknet.co.uk) - providing webmasters and e-commerce with a more successful alternative to opt-in email marketing and email newsletters; mail:bob@desknet.co.uk
Lincoln Stretch rentals Alsip ..In the Clinton era the status quo was simple: you... Read More
Several software companies design programs for preventive maintenance. Most of... Read More
XML Server can be a Web Server that stores the... Read More
Sometimes your PC will start acting strange for no apparent... Read More
Heard about the Quark "killer"?Adobe InDesign CS2. Will it really... Read More
There are two approaches for application integration:? Programmer's approach ?... Read More
Since its release in 1987, QuarkXpress had made an immediate... Read More
It would be easy to think, like most people apparently... Read More
Google Inc. has launched a new software package that allows... Read More
IntroductionSurprised, by the title? well, this is a tour of... Read More
Preventive Maintenance (PM) is defined as scheduled work done on... Read More
If you have been using the Internet for any amount... Read More
The fact that a software tester is a most infamous... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains might be considered as ERP platform to... Read More
Sales are all about leverage, because there is only so... Read More
With any good luck and a good amount of hard... Read More
Great Plains Software Dynamics, Dynamics C/S+, eEnterprise were written on... Read More
Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more and more popular,... Read More
You have gotten those E_Mails buy software at deep discounts.... Read More
A LOT OF UNWANTED FILES.When you uninstall an item of... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains and MS CRM (client relation... Read More
ERP is the acronym of Enterprise Resource Planning. Multi-module ERP... Read More
Are you one of those people that keeps track of... Read More
CD and DVD replication is a process that works by... Read More
A UNIX Shell is in simplest terms, a command line... Read More
Western Springs shuttle limo ..In the early days of the personal computer, we're talking... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics/eEnterprise... Read More
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy and processes used... Read More
Introduction to C++Why Learn C++?C++ may at first seem like... Read More
I've been active in the Cisco Certification track for four... Read More
Here is some free software tools to help you build... Read More
It is now common thing when large corporation selects mid-market... Read More
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Hawaii (HMSA) found itself... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains might be considered as ERP platform to... Read More
Scrapbooks are very popular these days. I think that almost... Read More
Adware is a type of Spyware program that displays some... Read More
Are Spreadsheets Robbing your Enterprise of Competitive Advantage?'90% of "average"... Read More
It won't matter how effective your WinRunner Team is if... Read More
NOTE: Please take time to read on - it may... Read More
Microsoft CRM is now on the scene and it is... Read More
You would like to protect your documents, wouldn't you? Reasons... Read More
Intro This concise article will tell you in plain English... Read More
According to a survey conducted by InfoTrends/CAP Ventures entitled "Content-Centric... Read More
MS CRM is very close to document workflow automation, including... Read More
1. Replace Dexterity cursor with SQL Stored Procedure Dexterity... Read More
Viruses and spyware usually show up on your computer one... Read More
Microsoft Client Relation Management system (Microsoft CRM) and Microsoft RMS... Read More
Just stress testing one of the latest Linux distributions. Been... Read More
Almost all new and major brand of PCs come with... Read More
SyncUp, a file synchronizer is designed to assist the home... Read More
Software |