Beat the software pirates

We are always being exhorted by the software industry to take the software piracy issue seriously. You have to see their point. While the UK has one of the lowest ratios of illegal software, 38 per cent of UK software is still apparently dodgy (see news story). Globally, around 50 per cent of all software is pirated, and in certain countries the figure is over 80 per cent. Piracy losses cost the Western European software industry $3.6 billion annually. As we are often being reminded, this cost comes out of resellers' pockets as well as vendors'. And let's face it, it's a lot easier to feel sorry for a small OEM or Var deprived of sales, or had up for unwittingly supplying counterfeit product, than it is to feel bad about the cost to Microsoft or Oracle. So what can you, the reseller, do about it? Firstly, buy your software only from distributors authorised and recommended by the vendor. Secondly, take advantage of the wealth of material supplied by vendors to publicise the issue to your customers.

An end-user is far more likely to listen to you than they are to listen to vendor bellyaches. It is strange to contemplate that in 1996 there are still people who do not know what constitutes illegal software, as well as people and companies who know perfectly well but can't bring themselves to consider a software licence as property in the same sense as something more tangible. If you know a customer who uses illegal software, don't shop them to the authorities. But do try your best to warn them of the risks. They may have cause to thank you one day.