[wipt]

Exactly. And as has been said and cited before, those who have cracked versions may never use them, or very well may never have bought it to begin with (a user is not by default a client - but they have the potential to become one). Congress put out a report stating that piracy actually (in some way, be it minor or not) helped "digital sales"

I find it frustrating that my lawfully purchased software is sometimes much more difficult to run (keys, registration, ads before it starts up e.g. EA Games) than my friends running pirated copies.

[iclelland]

Not only that, but those who didn't spend their money on {software|music|movies} very likely managed to spend it on something else.

There is no giant pirate treasure hoard, where "pirates" cache these "billions of dollars every year", and we would not all be billions of dollars richer if only these pirates would give their money to the software / entertainment industries instead.

[rick888]

"Congress put out a report stating that piracy actually (in some way, be it minor or not) helped "digital sales"

"minor or not"

So did it help or didn't it? I don't know how they could ever prove this. How do you prove intent, one way or another? By asking people that pirated software if they would have purchased?

If companies didn't actively try to fight piracy (even if it doesn't work that well), they would eventually go out of business. This is because free versions would become easier for the masses to obtain than the paid version and nobody would be willing to pay money for something they can easily get for free. The only reason it works for big companies like Microsoft and Adobe is because they can take the financial hit. Most small software companies can't.

The same thing is happening with software developers and open source. Companies are slowly realizing that they can get the software they need for free. Sure, they can hire a developer to make changes to it, but that developer doesn't need a college education and can be paid much less (or they just outsource it to India, Russia, or the Philippines).

"I find it frustrating that my lawfully purchased software is sometimes much more difficult to run (keys, registration, ads before it starts up e.g. EA Games) than my friends running pirated copies."

Blame the pirates. Remember that these protections were built as a result of rampant piracy. DRM wasn't around during the Napster days.

Personally, I don't even sell apps anymore..only services. This way, there's nothing to pirate. I suppose this will be the end result of piracy: all commercial software will be services that need to be paid on a monthly basis.