[ Thanks to J
LaCroix for this link. ]
“Piracy is obviously a huge concern in pretty much
every function of IT, and to make matters worse report released
this week claims that over $50 billion was lost due to piracy last
year, and includes piracy rates broken down by location with Asia
unsurprisingly leading the pack when it comes to software
counterfeiting. Are these claims true? While
it’s no question that Asia has a piracy
problem, I highly doubt it.“I have a lot of pet peeves, and people wanting things without
paying for them is near the top of my list. With my side business,
a great amount of calls I get are from people looking for a
“cheap copy†of Windows or other
kinds of software (despite the fact that I advertise that I
don’t sell software). When computers are
brought to me for repair, I have to turn some of them away if they
have bootleg copies of Windows installed. My personal favorite is
when I get a call from someone saying that a
“Genuine Advantage†popup keeps
appearing, and if I can make it go away if they slip me some cash.
I turn them away, but it is a very annoying thing to deal with that
I’m sure a large number of freelance
technicians deal with.”