Total number of computer users in China: > 100 million
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_China#Business

Total number of genuine Windows Vista copies sold in China: 244
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/110067690/article.pl

Talk about a kick in the pants. Wake up and smell the coffee manufacturing plant!

I don't like high prices either, but we don't have a 'right' to low cost software.  The prices will be as high as the market will bear.

Kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy that. I'd only expect MS to hike their prices in your neighbourhood.

I'm not sure there will ever be a collision between free and commercial software. Free software tends to be very small, simple programs that don't get significantly updated often and only do one or two simple things. That isn't bad, I use and love a lot of those programs and I've written and given away several myself, but when someone wants to make something really good, polished and powerful it soon turns into a full-time job.

How would you account for Linux then? What about Gimp, Open Office, Azureus, Utorrent? I'm not sure about the open-endedness of some of these but I know for sure they're free.

People tend to get emotional when one mentions software piracy. Whether you take a moderate view and try to justify their behaviour or whether you think they're no better than drug-dealers is not the point here. The fact is this is a huge MAMMOTH untapped market out there and businesses need to find ways to tap into it. I don't know the numbers but the balance between honest and dishonest users is seriously lopsided. Even more so when you talk about countries like India and China. I can go out on the street in Bombay, India and buy any product for less than USD 1.00. Microsoft has the most ineffective anti-piracy campaigns going through the years. They plaster the city with banners urging the public to call the anti-piracy hotlines. Every kid around knows exactly where to find the pirated software but apparently MS with the millions(?) it pumps into anti-piracy doesn't. There are streets filled with shops thriving in piracy, the cops turn a blind eye. Every once in a while some loser who doesn't know how to handle his friendly (read corrupt) neighbourhood officer gets pulled up and gets his face in the papers. Score for Microsoft, except it's business as usual on Lamington Road. This scenario is almost certainly replicated in thousands of cities around the world.

You can hate those who indulge in piracy till kingdom come but the only ones complaining today are the legit users.
All I'm saying is the companies have to get rid of their traditional hard-headed approach and find a smart way to tap this market. Sure, there'll be a lot of people who won't pay even if a product is priced reasonably, but there will be people who will... for that "squishy feeling" or for whatever other reasons. This is one fat pie and if the sw companies can figure out a way to even get a small slice of it it'll go a long way to help everyone on the right side of the ethical line.

As a programmer I knew that good, powerful software like Photoshop was as difficult and time consuming to make as digital camera.

Maybe much more so depending on the app you're talking about. The only reason I'm willing to pay more for a camera is coz my copy/paste shortcuts don't work too well with it. Nor, unfortunately, do they work for the manufacturer. The day that happens we'll solve all the world's problems. Well almost all - Sanjaya will still deliver cruel and unusual punishment whenever he sings.