Pirated software: Your gain and loss
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): You've just returned from a trip to your favorite CD-ROM shop in Glodok, downtown. The store has the latest computer programs and their collection is simply the most complete. You're very excited, and want to immediately start exploring and using the particular program your friend has been telling you about. It's the best upgrade he had ever seen, he said, a must-have. So you waste no time.
You switch on your PC's stabilizer and warm the machine up. Loading Windows 95, you insert the CD-ROM you've just bought into the drive. Then you click on the Start button. You click on Settings and then on Control Panel.
Once the Control Panel is up, you click on Remove/Install Programs. A dialog box pops up. You click again on Install and then Next. In the dialog box that appears, you browse the subdirectories in the CD-ROM until you find the programs you want to try out. You look for the SETUP.EXE file. When you've located it, you click, click and click again until the setup utility starts copying the files needed for installing the entire software program.
You've followed the right procedure for installing a new software program. If you were to buy all the software programs contained in the CD-ROM individually, you'd have to spend a fortune. The CD-ROMs, bearing the name "Collection" or "Shop" or "Installer", may contain the latest version of industry favorites such as AutoCad, Adobe Photoshop and QuarkXpress. Each of these software programs would have set you back US$400 to $3000, if you had decided to buy the original. Now, for just Rp 35,000 or Rp 40,000, you can have them all on one CD.
And there are a lot of other programs, utilities, screen savers and encyclopedias, not to mention a slew of games. At such a low price, it's a bargain. You're definitely a winner.
Well, maybe not quite. Perhaps not all of the programs in your new CD can be installed properly. Some CD-ROM stores in Glodok remind you that they do not guarantee every single program on the list that you read at the back of the jewel case will work. Even if the majority don't work, they say, you won't get a replacement.
In most cases, the program works. But, sometimes, just when you fire it up wondering why you were not asked to type in the serial number, you see the message on the screen: Please enter product serial number. If you don't have the serial number or the CD-Key (a combination of alphanumeric characters) needed to properly complete the installation procedure, bad luck. Most of the time you can find the necessary key in a file named SERIALNO.TXT found in the same directory where the SETUP.EXE is located. Sometimes you can even phone the store where you bought the CD-ROM, because usually they keep a list of the serial numbers.
Sometimes, you get a bad CD. The worst thing that can happen is that your CD-ROM drive refuses to read it, but the store's CD- ROM drive read it without a hiccup. Now you have the store owner persuading you to buy a new CD-ROM drive to make sure you can benefit from the pirated programs.
As an owner of pirated software, you are on your own. You have no manual and no access to technical support. But, in most cases, this is not really an issue here in Indonesia. You may not get a satisfactory level of support even when you buy the original.
Virus
But, beware. The CD-ROM may contain a virus. It is possible the hard disk used to create the master CD was already plagued with a virus. Because it is a ROM -- Read Only Memory -- there is no way you can clean up the virus. Once you run it and it manages to beat your antivirus, you end up having an infected hard disk. And it's not a nice feeling knowing that you have a virus on your hard disk.
The sad thing about software piracy is that even highly profitable businesses and legal offices use pirated software. They actually could afford to buy the original, but the lure is so strong. For such a small amount of money they can use the latest and best tools of their trade. Why spend money on the original? But, think again.
If businesses use illegal software, they may get away with it. The problem is, the general public certainly ends up being the loser. As my friend Martin Harris from AutoDesk aptly wrote in his recent E-mail to me: "Unfortunately in Indonesia we are facing the problem of high software piracy, which keeps our returns rather moderate. The industry is very short-sighted as their illegal usage of software is a great barrier to local software development and also keeps companies like ours from being able to donate more seats to education and investment into the development of human resources and technology centers."
So, isn't it time people started paying for the tools they use to make money?