MSR Consulting TechnoBlog

Fighting Microsoft’s Piracy Check?

June 21st, 2006

Fighting Microsoft’s piracy check | CNET News.com

Given my strong stance on privacy issues some of you may find my opinion on this topic of piracy surprising. The main gist of the article is:

“Counterfeiters aren’t Microsoft’s only opponents in its effort to combat piracy: Some of its customers are against it, too.

The company is forging ahead with a program, Windows Genuine Advantage, tied to its free software downloads and updates, that checks whether the Windows installation on a PC is pirated. But some people, including some who say they own a legitimately acquired copy of Windows, have challenged the need for such validation.”

But I have to say that in general I don’t have an issue with Microsofts anti-piracy efforts, including the WGA program. My only gripe to date has been that in the event of migrating to a new machine you may find that you have to reactivate your software, and in many cases do so manually via a phone call. Hopefully they will iron that out.

The article discusses how the general user populace is joining the software piracy mentality when it comes to Microsoft due to its tactics. I mean, c’mon! As paranoid as I am about privacy concerns, I can find absolutely nothing that looks as if Microsoft is purposefully using piracy concerns as a means to surreptitiously try and glean private information from you. In my opinion the internet community, particularly the tech geeks, have gone overboard these days in implying that any software developer whose software communicates back to them is involved in subterfuge. 9 times out of 10 the developer is trying to add a useful feature for the user but invariably will get taken to task for it. In regards to Microsoft, and the WGA program explicitly, yes it’s true that they released a ‘critical’ update that will enforce the WGA program. The argument being made is that this ‘critical’ update was only critical to Microsoft and not their users, and since it tries to insure that the software in question isn’t pirated then it is an attempt by Microsoft to spy on you. To me this just begs the question, why do you care? The only thing the software can do is tell if your copy of the software is real or not…and even then it doesn’t report back to Microsoft and say “go arrest this guy at 123 anywhere blvd because he has a pirated copy”. As far as I can see the only way this software would effect you is if you had a pirated copy in the first place. Now don’t get me wrong, I am an absolute glutton when it comes to downloading and trying out
software, and if I can’t find a fully functioning trial then I’m the
first in line to download it. Whatever the legality of that download might be. The difference is that if I end up
actually keeping a piece of software then I buy it. But in the case of Microsoft, here is a company that provides fully functional trial downloads, usually for up to 3 months, of its most popular (and quite expensive) software. In addition they keep releasing new add on products, for free, that a lot of people want. Now however Microsoft is saying you can have all you want, still for free, but for gods sake don’t pirate our software and then expect us to also keep sending you updates and downloads for it!

OK, I think you get my opinion on the matter. It does bring up a good topic of trial software, piracy in general, and its effect on the software development ecosystem.

Personally it seems rediculous to me for companies not to offer long term trials of their software, it does seem that more and more are starting to do it however which is great news. I consider the software development marketplace an ecosystem. While the mega-companies are who you hear the most about, they represent a small fraction of piracy in regards to the quantity of pirated products. It’s these smaller software developers that the piraters should really think about. These small companies and individuals are the true innovators of the industry. It’s their products and ideas that eventually get bought up and incorporated into the larger companies, or more rarely they beat the odds and become a large company of their own. By pirating these companies software they are reducing the overall pool of dollars available to these software developers, which in turn means a greater number will be forced to close up shop and join the corporate megaliths as just another member of the payroll. The innovation potential is reduced each time, and the entire industry and the consumer ultimately suffer.

Unlike the expensive software of the big boys, these software developers typically make lower priced products. And the typical excuses made by the pirater, in regards to how their piracy has no financial impact on the developers because they wouldn’t have purchased it in the first place due to its cost, don’t hold true in this case. These are usually developers of games, internet utilities, system tools, and the like with price tags averaging under $50. In almost all cases the pirater would have paid for the software if they could not have gotten it illegally. Unfortunately they cannot see that the publisher of that ‘must-have’ tool may not exist next year to release that next fabulous version, or that it might receive less work and be of a lesser quality since the publisher had to spread their attentions to other activities to stay afloat.

I realize there is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to the reason that piraters do what they do. But I hope that the mentality can change when it comes to software produced by the little guys, since a great deal of our innovation will be lost to the world if we can’t find way of supporting these developers with financial security when they produce quality products. That said, I do have a couple of suggestions for the ‘big boys’ when it comes to marketing and licensing their software.

1. Take a lesson from the excuses that people make for pirating software and counteract it with creative licensing. If the product is targeted to a specific audience (business software for example) then offer cheap, or even (Gasp!) free, versions of the software for non mainstream audiences that you don’t expect to make any revenue from. By increasing your userbase you will obtain greater feedback on quality control and compatibility issues and a broader audience familiar with your product to recommend it to their employers….your targeted audience.


2. Split educational software licensing into two parts. One for educational institutional use (existing pricing) and the other a even further reduced license for students and faculty. I personally already find the educational software pricing competitive, but obviously a large number still find the convenience of pirating still worth the price differential of buying an educational or OEM copy.


3. In exchange for these low end pricing structures get increased permission agreements from the purchaser for marketing and acquisition purposes and even product testing/feedback. Require download only copies and paid support only to keep your supply costs as low as possible.

I would doubt that many companies believe the above aren’t doable. In fact I think most would immediately jump on those ideas if it weren’t for one thing….they are terrified of cannibalizing their existing userbase. It’s true that they would likely gain income by implementing the above, and significantly reduce the amount of pirating of their software. But if they don’t do it right they risk the fact that their existing userbase might start taking advantage of these opportunities as well. Since they don’t have enough information about just how many might fall into that category they can’t accurately calculate the amount of cannibalization that might occur.

Now I can’t guarantee that’s the reason they don’t do it, I just hope that’s the reason. The alternative would simply make me too cynical. That alternative of course is that they truly believe that they can sell their product at full retail to those pirates…..if only they could stop them from pirating. There are a few cases where that might be true, but they are definitely the exception and not the rule.

Technorati Tags: microsoft, piracy, wga

Entry Filed under: General Technology, Internet, Security, Consulting