Surprisingly, Argentina Using Less Pirated Software
Perhaps surprisingly, given one of the worst global financial crises in decades, the use of pirated software declined in Argentina last year, according to the new Seventh Annual Global Software Piracy Study.
In 2009 about 71% of the software on Argentine computers was “trucho,” or pirated. That’s down from 73% the previous year.
Worldwide, pirated software usage rose to 43% from 41%.
Despite the improvement here, the vast majority of Argentines use pirated software.
That’s true in households, government buildings and businesses across the nation. Most “mom & pop” computer shops around the country routinely install pirated software for their clients.
To combat the problem, software producers offered a new approach, the report said:
“Changing distribution and licensing models had an impact, as vendors offered more software for free and through large legalization programs in conjunction with special government programs. Such programs had a major impact in countries like Portugal, Argentina and Chile.”
The commercial value of pirated software in Argentina last year was $645 million, up from $339 million.
So while the use of illegitimate software may be down, it appears that Argentines are installing more expensive programs than ever before.
The U.S. is the country with the lowest piracy rate at 20%. It’s followed by Japan and Luxembourg at 21% each. The worst offender is Georgia at 95%. It’s followed by Zimbabwe at 92%, Bangladesh and Moldovia (91%), and Armenia (90%).
In Latin America Colombia has the lowest percentage of pirated software at 55%. It’s followed by Brazil with 56%. Venezuela tops the Latam pirates list with 87%.
Popularity: 1% [?]
I *hope* this is because Argentines use more Libre software.
Richard Stallman in Argentina (2008) about “piracy” and open software for the people and the government: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGUjLIu2Hq0 (three parts in total)
i am dubious…
73% to 71% must be within some margin of error. Exactly how to they purport to gather these data?
The ‘commercial value of pirated software’ a whiningly stated by software manufacturers should be considered with caution.
One shouldn’t simply calculate the price per unit x pirated copies. Think how much would have really been sold to people that cannot afford the price.
Same goes for music.
I am a defender of the free software. I live in argentina.
I believe that the decline in use of pirated software due to the increase in notebook sales, which include the starter version of microsoft SO.
The software that typically (in my point of view) is pirated is the operating system (win XP, vista, 7), the Microsoft Office and antivirus suites.
I do not work in the area of computer science, but on many occasions i need to use software. I use OpenOffice and Avast free, and normaly i recomend the use of that software instead of the pirated software (if you can afford and are willing to pay, is fine to paid). I would gladly use a alternative to the SO, but the programs i need to use do not have a GPL version/alternative. (PRO II from simsci and similar)
If I were to sell computers, i try to explain to customers the need to avoid the use of pirated software and the alternatives that exist (free or comercial with lower price). Most of the users use the computer to play (big illegal market) or to work in MS Word (see abbyword or OpenOffice Writer), MS Excel (Oppen office calc or gnumeric), or MS powerpoint. Unfortunately if you ask on computer stores, especially in the countryside, they never give you a properly explanation (and recommended older computers or lie about performance..)
At the end the fault lies with those who sell, those who buys and the argentine state, which do not regule properly.
Sorry for the english…