[LunarAurora]

I have graphics artists friends in Arab countries. Apart for the (oil rich) Golf, Almost All (90-99%) of them (and their colleagues) just pirate adobe software. Those who care to justify will simply point to difference in the cost of living [1] even without large depreciations.

I was reading a book on Mediterranean history the other day and was surprised by how (real) piracy what a “normal” state of affair for literally thousands of years. I’m not justifying anything. I’m just stating that poor countries have always pirated rich ones. It is like a balancing act.

[1] https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...

[badpun]

I wouldn't compare making a copy of a software someone wrote to capturing their ship, taking all their possessions and selling them to slavery or killing them. That's software industry propaganda.

[DonHopkins]

Well "whatabout" all that entertainment industry propoganda and classist stereotypes against real pirates? How they're always relentlessly making fun of the way they talk, walk, their amputations, monocular vision, and pet preferences, shamelessly appropriating and disparagingly caricaturizing their culture for Halloween costumes and team mascots, and even cruelly comparing them to software and music thieves? ;)

[aidy]

I think when something is priced beyond what people can afford, and they don't have alternatives, they are more likely to acquire it some other way. Adobe is an interesting example - it's a premium product, and there are alternatives, but the talent in the design space seems to be almost exclusively using Adobe. Designers work in a global community, which makes it difficult to build skills to be competitive without equivalent access. If something costs 10+ times more on a regional salary than it would in say the US, then I'm not surprised that piracy is rife.

Subscription pricing has compounded this. Back when you bought up front and selectively paid for lower cost upgrade maintenance, people would stomach the pain, as you ended up with a product you had security of ownership on. Today, in South Africa as an example, the cost of an annual CC subscription could be as much as 10% of a junior designer's annual package, if not more. It's sad, as regions like Africa have young, creative populations who could really contribute to creative communities given half the chance.