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To be honest, when I was young, I was exposed to software piracy. Who doesn’t? Piracy felt like a drug at the time: addictive, and still is. Tell me how it is not satisfying to use a USD20 and more piece of software for free (well, with a bit of tinkering here and there…). I was at a race with my friends to use the most expensive tools for as little money as possible.
But as I grow older and busier, I feel like I have no time with all those tinkering. I have become someone who wants everything to work out of the box. Tinkering is fine, but I’d much prefer not doing any tinkering at all. You can say that I’ve become lazier.
So yeah, that’s one of the reasons why I decide to limit my use of pirated software. There’s more down below. Oh, by the way, this article isn’t meant to either bash or promote piracy, but merely to share my opinion why I decide to move to genuine software more and more.
Ready? Let’s get to it.
As You Grow Older, You Get Lazier
Well, not lazier, I’d say busier. For example, with an overwhelming amount of work, we have less and less time for ourselves. Even if we have time, I’m sure you’d rather go and hang out with your friends. If not, watch movies or play games at home.
And that’s exactly what’s wrong with pirated software. Unlike genuine ones in which you just install and input your license number (or login), pirated software most likely needs you to do something else, like copying files, or modifying things. Sometimes, you’ll also need to re-apply the crack if the developers catch you using pirated license. Unless you really need the app, depending on the complexity, it may not worth the hassle.
Pirated Software Is Risky Business
Continuing from the above point, pirating software isn’t as simple and straightforward as the genuine ones. Granted, the simplest is just replacing the executables, but some complex ones require you to modify the Windows Registry, or run various commands in UNIX that you may not understand. Those actions are risky, especially if you don’t understand what you’re doing. That’s why you need to dedicate some time, that you may not have, to find out whether the crack would break your system.
These risks are vary. Some are as simple as causing error alerts, while others are more dangerous like putting malwares and other unwanted stuffs inside your system.
Pirated Software Has Limitations
This may come as no surprise, but since you get the software for free (and illegally), there’s no official support. Additionally, most pirated software out there does not allow updates, which is important to me. Updates make sure your software is properly maintained, get new features, and keep it compatible with the latest OS updates.
Not only that, pirated software may also lose some online features, such as multiplayer in games, cloud integration for Adobe apps, or even loses the cracked status, as most current apps employ online license checking in the background.
Free Software Has Got Better… Or Genuine Software Is Getting Cheaper
Sometimes, our pride does not allow us to use free software. No, really. I used to insist that I should use Adobe Acrobat Pro for opening PDFs. Sure, it’s got some fancy features like converting PDFs to other files, such as Word. But at the end of the day, I rarely, if never, use those features. Then, I tried Microsoft Edge, and you know what? It’s not that bad. I just need an app to open PDFs, and Edge does that just fine. Plus, I like the simplistic UI.
Now, the second part may be subjective. But, I used to go against the increasingly popular subscription model. But as time goes, I finally realize why I think I might be wrong all those time. Granted, subscription model may be more expensive in the long run, but it also makes the price lower for the shorter run.
Take the Microsoft Office, for example. The one time Home and Student license costs USD149.99 upfront, per PC/Mac, while the 365 Home Edition costs USD69.99 per year. You can share the Home Edition with 5 other users, which can break the cost down to just ~USD11.66 per year. With that, you also get 1TB of OneDrive and 60 minutes of Skype. Breaking it down further, it’s less than USD1 per month. A cup of Starbucks latte costs more than that.
What if you no longer use the software? Just unsubscribe. It’s just that simple.
Support The Developers. Buy Genuine Software.
As a developer myself, I understand how difficult it is to maintain a software. Resources are scarce, and we need to get paid. Whatever the model is (upfront or subscription), buying software keeps us developers and others motivated enough to keep pumping new features and deliver the best service to you.
Let’s be honest, though I might want to work for free sometimes, certainly not in the long run. It’s just not profitable and in order to continue living, profit needs to be made.
Well, I guess that’s all for now, Folks. In the end, I’m not judging, it’s your decision. I’m just sharing my opinion on why I decided to use genuine software. My take? If an app makes your day (or job) easier, maybe it’s worth buying. Developers like us need to eat too, you know. Anyway, thanks for reading, and see you in the next article! 😀
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