A related data point is the Humble Indie Bundle, which is a pay-anything (including $.01) software bundle that is experiencing fairly heavy levels of piracy.
This is arguable, and relative. The 25% figure is almost certainly inflated, and is much lower than World of Goo's usual piracy rate, estimated at 90%+.
"A related data point is the Humble Indie Bundle, which is a pay-anything (including $.01) software bundle that is experiencing fairly heavy levels of piracy."
This shows further proof that the people bitching about DRM still won't pay for software if they can easily get it for free. This is why you need to have some sort of copy protection in place if you are going to sell software.
I'm not sure how it does, since "copy protection" never seems to stop software, music, movies, etc. from showing up on pirate sites. I honestly don't know what the answer is, but DRM is really a pain-in-the-ass for legitimate customers who are perfectly happy paying money for their software, movies, etc., but it doesn't seem like it ever amounts to more than a minor speedbump to pirates.
I'm sympathetic to software devs, musicians, movie makers, etc. who don't want to see their work pirated, I really am. But as a customer, I FUCKING HATE being treated like a criminal when I try to play games, watch movies, etc. that I legitimately fucking payed for.
I don't see how this is a sustainable situation, particularly when each new generation of DRM seems to punish legitimate paying customers harder than the last generation.
"I'm sympathetic to software devs, musicians, movie makers, etc. who don't want to see their work pirated, I really am. But as a customer, I FUCKING HATE being treated like a criminal when I try to play games, watch movies, etc. that I legitimately fucking payed for."
How is copy protection treating you like a criminal? Do you FUCKING HATE when the website for your bank makes you login with a username/password to prove your identity?
"I don't see how this is a sustainable situation, particularly when each new generation of DRM seems to punish legitimate paying customers harder than the last generation."
If you really want to blame someone, blame the pirates. DRM was created as a direct result of things like Napster and most recently, thepiratebay. Most people laughed in the faces of the software, music, and movie industry. They never offered any kind of solution for those industries to make money and continued to download their work for free. Now, customers are complaining and wondering why there is so much copy protection on software and games.
Comments
A related data point is the Humble Indie Bundle, which is a pay-anything (including $.01) software bundle that is experiencing fairly heavy levels of piracy.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/05/humble-bundle-giv...
This is arguable, and relative. The 25% figure is almost certainly inflated, and is much lower than World of Goo's usual piracy rate, estimated at 90%+.
"A related data point is the Humble Indie Bundle, which is a pay-anything (including $.01) software bundle that is experiencing fairly heavy levels of piracy."
This shows further proof that the people bitching about DRM still won't pay for software if they can easily get it for free. This is why you need to have some sort of copy protection in place if you are going to sell software.
I'm not sure how it does, since "copy protection" never seems to stop software, music, movies, etc. from showing up on pirate sites. I honestly don't know what the answer is, but DRM is really a pain-in-the-ass for legitimate customers who are perfectly happy paying money for their software, movies, etc., but it doesn't seem like it ever amounts to more than a minor speedbump to pirates.
I'm sympathetic to software devs, musicians, movie makers, etc. who don't want to see their work pirated, I really am. But as a customer, I FUCKING HATE being treated like a criminal when I try to play games, watch movies, etc. that I legitimately fucking payed for.
I don't see how this is a sustainable situation, particularly when each new generation of DRM seems to punish legitimate paying customers harder than the last generation.
"I'm sympathetic to software devs, musicians, movie makers, etc. who don't want to see their work pirated, I really am. But as a customer, I FUCKING HATE being treated like a criminal when I try to play games, watch movies, etc. that I legitimately fucking payed for."
How is copy protection treating you like a criminal? Do you FUCKING HATE when the website for your bank makes you login with a username/password to prove your identity?
"I don't see how this is a sustainable situation, particularly when each new generation of DRM seems to punish legitimate paying customers harder than the last generation."
If you really want to blame someone, blame the pirates. DRM was created as a direct result of things like Napster and most recently, thepiratebay. Most people laughed in the faces of the software, music, and movie industry. They never offered any kind of solution for those industries to make money and continued to download their work for free. Now, customers are complaining and wondering why there is so much copy protection on software and games.
Oddly enough, I believe Cracked.com has an appropriate and well timed rebuttal: http://www.cracked.com/article_18513_5-insane-file-sharing-p...