I doubt most crackers use many of the apps they crack.
That's for sure. The scene is not about cracking for yourself, but it's more of a whoever-cracks-more-in-less-time-is-elite game.
The hardcore pirates will pirate even if prices were dropped substantially, probably even if photoshop cost $10.
What do you mean? Being 'hardcore' has nothing to do with still pirating software even if it costs a dollar... All teams did it, do it and will continue doing it, however most focus mainly in the expensive pieces of software.
(No, I'm not associated with all that stuff, I just happen to know people).
Indeed, c4n is a way to get to know that kind of people better... lol ;D
Okay, let's be honest - we all want to use the 'big names' out there. When you think of a good image processor, isn't Photoshop that comes to mind? When you think of a good sound editor, isn't Sound Forge or Cool Edit that comes to mind? How many do you think prefer The Gimp or Paint.net or Audacity over the aforementioned software? If you guys had both commercial and opensource or freeware or something software for the same task, which one would you use? So, it's a matter of quality. In MOST, not all cases though, you get what you pay for. Those questions are just provided as food for thought.