Study: 41% of all PC software installed is piratedIf you live in the US, you live in a country where about 20% of all software installed on PCs is pirated. Globally that number jumps to 41%. At least, that's the finding of a study from IDC and the Business Software Alliance.
The study claims that the piracy rate actually fell in most of the 110 countries studied, but because PC shipments grew the most in countries like China and India with high piracy rates, the number jumped from 38% in 2007 to 41% in 2008.
The biggest problem with studies like these is that they try to put a dollar amount on the "losses" from piracy. In this case, the report suggests that software companies lost out on $53 billion due to piracy. But that's only true if every single individual that installed a bootlegged copy of your software would have purchased it otherwise. I'm pretty sure that's not true.
Agree with the last point. It's true that piracy often enables users to do a "real" full trial of the product, rather than test manufacturers' often very restricted demos.
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