By Walter Prochorenko

This is an issue that has been widely debated for the past 20 years and to date it still remains unresolved.

No one wants to condone Software Piracy, but when the two richest people in the world whose combined worth is more than the GNP of 70% of the world's nations cry about lost revenues, one needs to look at this from a different perspective. Standard software needed for maintaining a decent level of expertise in this fast paced world costs 20 times the monthly revenues of most individuals in developing nations. This not only includes Ukraine, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Rumania, etc, but also countries like India, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, or roughly 75% of he world's population.

There are solutions to this problem. They are viable. However the big software companies would rather deal with the problem as they do in the USA, Europe, and Japan, rather than try to really resolve the issue.

For example, what would it hurt the software giants to produce "local" versions of their products and sell it in the specific countries for 1/10th to 1/20th the price they sell it for in Europe or the US? Or to do it on a sliding scale based on the average earnings of a country's working force? This way, they build a clientele, build product loyalty, reduce or eliminate piracy, and allow the people of the various nations to stay on an equal footing with the West.

The following article, although sarcastic in nature, really says it quite nicely and effectively:

Dear Editor,

In reference to your article I offer the following comments.

I fully believe that the Czech Police and the Software Piracy Review Board are entirely right in their pursuit of criminals that use software without licenses. They should be punished severely for not allowing American computer, internet, and software companies to dominate the world markets. Why should Americans allow "foreigners" such as Czechs, Russians, Thais, Chinese, or even Ukrainians, access to programs that were written and developed by the giants of the software industry like Microsoft, Oracle, Symantec, Macromedia, Corel, Adobe, etc, and which now dominate the world of computers and the internet. So what if some of these giants stole from some small programmers the very products they are now trying to protect. This is not the business of the agents of Microsoft.
There is no reason whatsoever why these or any other underdeveloped or emerging country should be allowed to gain ground against the Americans. We dominate the world and we must maintain a clear and wide separation from the other 5 billion people who populate this planet. We Americans did allow our close friends from Britain, France, Germany, and Japan into the fold, but only because their monies were almost as good as ours. (Also because we did not want to be perceived as total isolationists and elitists.)
If a Czech or a Ukrainian or a Thai wants to spend 6 months worth of his or her wages on purchasing our giants' software, he is definitely welcome to do so. We do not deny him this right. He has every right not to feed his family for several months so that he can obtain the type of software that will allow him to become competitive in this "modern" world that we Americans have created. He should learn not to steal such privileges through the use of pirated copies of the software (even though what he gets may already be obsolete or not be functional). Our system of unlimited potential, whether it be earned through ethical or legal means or not, must remain intact. We must allow the Bill Gates and his equals of our great computer industry to accumulate more and more billions at whatever costs they deem fit. I personally think that the Czech Government and the Software Piracy Review Board should continue to assist the large American and Western European companies to charge disproportionate prices that are in no way related to the earning potential of the Czech people. So what if an average American earns 40 to 100 times the salary of an average Czech or Ukrainian or Thai. I think Bill Gates is right and all should pay the same price for his monopolistic programs.
Let us not talk about establishing separately priced software by the giants of the industry (in the languages of the countries for which they are intended). This would be too costly and too difficult to do. This would also deny the users their national identities. Better to spend the money to establish "software police" and prosecute the nasty abusers who will deprive Bill of his next billion. It is not Bill's fault that the nations using the pirated software had no chance to catch up to the modern world because of domination by a system for which they had not voted. True, the parents of the modern user could have voted against Stalin or Brezhnev or their beloved "Chairman" and risked the consequences, but they were lax in doing so. They somehow believed it would be better to wait out the system than to risk long vacations in Siberia or Outer Mongolia. Nor is it Bill's fault that regimes prevented the type of prosperity the US enjoyed.
By all means, let's bring on the "Software Secret Police" and let's jail these criminals. Perhaps Microsoft and the other software giants could rent or lease the Gulags and the Siberian concentration camps and really put a dent in the software piracy industry. How dare they deprive Bill of his dreams of world dominance?

Sincerely,
Name Withheld at request of writer.
PS -
1) The writer does not condone "piracy" in any form, but piracy also takes on many forms such as control of the seas, control of the markets, control of thoughts and ideals.
2) Perhaps the enforcers of the demands of the monopolists should take a hard look as to what is truly beneficial for them: a nation that is unable to compete because of high priced products, or a nation that "demands" equal rights and equal opportunities for its people.