One Third of All Software Pirated

[tesco]

I keep seeing these xp commercials too..

@vb, why doesn that matter. windows98 is still over $100 at futureshop.

[orcutt989]

There are things I would have never considered buying in a million years, if I had not pirated it first.

[Virtualbody1234]

@vb, why doesn that matter. windows98 is still over $100 at futureshop.

Yeah I know. And then they wonder why stuff gets pirated.

[clocker]

Yeah I know. And then they wonder why stuff gets pirated.

Oh, I think they KNOW why stuff gets pirated.
What they have failed to grasp is the willingness of folks to do it.

Even our most straitlaced, upstanding customers don't see why they should have to continue buying a product they paid for once...."Oh no, you see I already have XP on this other machine...why don't you just transfer it for me?"
"What do you mean, you CAN"T? That's ridiculous!"

Furthermore, lots of business software, I'm thinking specifically of the diagnostic software that auto mechanics use, is designed to work on Win98 and they are really stuck when an old PC dies and they can't just walk in and replace it.

I would guess that the estimate is pretty accurate.
Close to one third of our customer's PCs are running pirated versions of software ("Oh, my son came over and installed XP...what is a "license"? He never said anything about a PID...") and we get to be the bad guys and try to enforce MS's policies.