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Why is so much software cracked?

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zridling:
I think because many feel so much of it is overpriced leading us to say things like "You want €49 for that!" I argue more of the case here.

       

Let us know your thoughts.

JavaJones:
First, I think the title of this may be a bit misleading. "Why is software cracked? is a different question from "Why is software pirated?, the former implying more to do with the actual reason for defeating copy protection in the first place and hence having more to do with the motivations of those doing the cracking, rather than the "end user". For the crackers I think the motivation is much more about challenge, victory, feeling clever, and notoriety. I doubt most crackers use many of the apps they crack. So that seems fairly simple and has little to do with the market, except that higher priced and more desirable software is more desirable to crack.

The end user side of things seems a bit more complicated. You could say it is due simply to price; surely not many people pirate something they don't need or want, and if you need/want something then it has *some* value. Yet I have experienced first-hand the drive to collect, irrespective of the value of the software itself to my own needs. I have done this with freeware! The allure of collecting can't be dismissed. Still, I think it is a small part of the pirating population who are collectors, comparatively speaking. Many people don't even know they're "pirates" or that what they're doing is really wrong. It's not necessarily willful ignorance, they just don't think about it. I have seen so many people casually asking their neighbor, roommate, school chum, etc. to install Office, Photoshop, etc. on their machine, and they think nothing of it.

Getting back to the point, money definitely plays a key role. I think a fundamental problem of the industry though is that value of a piece of software is not consistent for everyone, yet the price charged is almost invariably the same. If there were a way to reliably measure someone's need and likely use - their price ceiling - then that would help a lot. As it is software developers theoretically charge what the market will bear. Where this gets tricky is developers, publishers, or lobby groups assuming that every pirated copy is a lost sale. This is an assumption in the music industry, film industry, software industry, etc, etc. and it is fundamentally flawed.

You could never lower prices to the point where everyone who pirates a piece of software would buy it, but you could get close. At a certain point you reach the point of diminishing returns. That is theoretically where every publisher should aim their pricing. I do think most publishers aim higher than that however. Imagine if Photoshop was half the cost - if they got twice as many purchasers (and they might), they would make the same amount of money, *and* they would have a larger market share. It's even possible they could make more money by more than doubling their market.

There are a number of theoretical "sweet spots" for pricing, and price barriers that supposedly signal the difference between a casual purchase and a major one that deserves more thought and care. This too is different for everyone, but there are general levels that are fairly agreed upon. I think the $100 barrier is one; there are many others. A smart publisher will price their software just under one of these barriers, if possible. This is usually the reason for something costing $299 instead of $300, of course. Surprisingly, as much as people intellectually see through that trick, they still subconsciously tend to fall victim to it.

In any case I think as a fundamental statement it's easy to agree that the biggest reason people pirate something is monetary. They don't feel the asking price is worth it for their use and need. But it gets more complex because of the things discussed above, and much more. Individual value judgments (to some people almost *nothing* is worth $600), individual financial means, etc, etc.

Interesting question. A pity no one is probably studying it but the BSA (and there "study" is probably a loose term). But I imagine there is a lot of general market research out there that is applicable to this at least.

- Oshyan

martyjn:
I have used cracks for various software that i posess but the main reason that i use them is to be able to back up software that i own to use a copy rather than the original.I have three kids under six at home with me and they quite often get into my cds and have destroyed moore than a few.The main reason why Software companies have not been successful banning cracks is that owners are legaly entitled to a back up of software in most countries.

Carol Haynes:
Answered on your blog Zaine ...

f0dder:
As for why software is *cracked*... it's a game. Some enjoy the challenge of defeating a difficult protection, some enjoy the "statistics" they can make by mass-cracking a bunch of small apps from the same company using basically the same protection. And then there's of course the competition between the various cracking groups. If you have a look at what is cracked in the so-called "0-day" scene (http://www.nfodb.com/section_1_0-day_nfo.html) you'll see a lot of really useless crap there, cracked only "because they could".

The oooh-so-romantic "fame and glory" is only one side of the story, though. Groups also release cracks to gain and maintain access to the so-called "topsites". The more apps and more interesting stuff you crack (games and applications obviously ranking higher than shareware applications), the better topsites you gain access to. Some 6 years ago, a ftp with 1TB storage on a full-duplex 100mbit connection was considered decent, which says something about the insane amount of storage and bandwidth used today, just for piracy.

http://www.welcometothescene.com has a (somewhat comic and somewhat frowned-upon by the oh-so-elite "real scene members") bunch of episodes with some fictional scene people, and while it's a bit comical, serves as a pretty good introduction to what it's all about.

(No, I'm not associated with all that stuff, I just happen to know people).

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