Software Piracy Rates by Country

[waleedss]

I am just talking about offerable prices not 10$

How to charge Sierra Leone (1$/hour) resident as much as California resident ?

[WAcky]

20% of a large pizza is not the same as 20% of a small pizza

 

Ah yes! But! 20% of each pizza is eaten!

 

Haha I get what you're trying to say now. You believe the the table should be arranged on the total number of piracy and not on the % of piracy?

[AJLynn]

I am just talking about offerable prices not 10$

How to charge Sierra Leone (1$/hour) resident as much as California resident ?

 

Charging the same thing for the same product seems pretty reasonable to me.

 

Why should I pay $4,000 for a product if somebody in Sierra Leone can get the same product for $40 then use his savings to charge less than me? Bad enough that the rest of his expenses are so much lower and he's a lot poorer. The fact that Autodesk didn't charge the $40 makes no impact on the price difference for the renders, or on Autodesk's profits. If Autodesk were to charge him the lower price simply because he's in a different area, they would be:

 

1. Ripping me off by charging me 100x as much for the same thing,

2. Endorsing the lack of money and awful conditions in places like Sierra Leone (home of the blood diamonds, IIRC)

3. Endorsing the other guy's undercutting of my rates, and

4. Requiring me to pay to support that undercutting.

 

That's your good idea? No way. Here's my idea: wouldn't it be better if everybody paid for their software, and set their rates by including the software in their overhead? Let the guy in Sierra Leone bill at $10/hour, pay the expenses and pocket an extra dollar or two in the bargain. If it lets him buy his kids new shoes, so much the better. It's still a bargain for first world clients, and maybe we in the 1st world need to get a bit more used to the idea of fair trade as a necessary part of free trade.

 

Yeah, my idea won't happen, but neither will yours, and mine's better.

[waleedss]

Thanks Andrew for your input. it is very controversial issue anyway

40$ is silly price for sure.

what if this limited-licenses must be used locally ? and 3.5K license for outsourcing and take some action against outsourcing marketplaces (ELance ...etc) to force provides to have this international licenses . and we will not see these prices 150$ per rendering. BTW outsourcing marketplaces don't care about software licensing at all.

[Trick]

I'm really surprised by some of the reactions here.

 

Economics is about supply and demand. If in poor countries one can not afford certain products, in the end the service that requires them is not valued accordingly, in other words they don't want to spend money on it. And if you want to take place in the global market and want to deliver a good and honest product, the money you spend on software can be earned back in no time...at least if you don't want to undercut everyone and everything. By making expensive products cheaper you don't change anything, since the cost for setting up your business still requires a lot more things then just software. If you can afford a $1000 computer for 3D work (and that is really cheap) why can't you just start with Blender !!! (...ever heard of it ???...it's free). I've seen quality that is absolutely comparable to what I made years ago...so for your local contractors it's better then nothing...for a price they can afford !! And I haven't even mentioned Lightwave or Modo ! In this regard the more expensive 3D softwares are luxury products you only can afford if you make enough money !! So you better start learning HOW to do THAT !!

 

So now tell me what type of people "steel" expensive software instead of use free software ? The professional, the lazy, the conscious ? Who are those people that are so motivated using illegal software ?

[pailhead]

This is the same story over and over again.

 

I know the mentality of us poorer folk. Even when we have an opportunity for better earnings, 99% would rather increase their profits, then go legit.

 

 

BTW, here in Serbia, there have been talks and talks about introducing a strict piracy control policy. As far as i understand, the police, or some such body can storm your office, interrupt your business and go through your computers in search for warez. So far i haven't met anyone who has had that happen to him.

 

 

For some time i thought that buying vray was worth it solely for the access to their forums. I thought my quality of work would be better than if i was using warez.

Unfortunately, you can get better help and support at evermotion...

 

 

 

BTW. what about library piracy?

 

Evermotion keeps spamming the market with these hi quality models, and finished scenes, everybody can now populate their scenes with high quality models, or use presets that took me months, maybe even years to figure out, not so long ago.

[rygoody]

BTW. what about library piracy?

 

Evermotion keeps spamming the market with these hi quality models, and finished scenes, everybody can now populate their scenes with high quality models, or use presets that took me months, maybe even years to figure out, not so long ago.

 

 

Evermotion or no evermotion it is inevitable that pre-made content and easier to configure settings are going to become a norm allowing the less-experienced to produce good quality.

 

The company I see making the biggest stride in this, more-so than evermotion, is luxology and modo. The pre-made content and pre-configured settings are now an integrated as part of 401, integrated better and easier to use than any other application. And it's set up so users can freely upload their settings and content to the luxology database. Two or four years of that going, and the luxology content databse will probably be even more comprehensive than the evermotion library.

 

The archviz industry simply is not the same as the engineering or even regular architecture industry. What can be done now in CG archviz will be twice as easy to do a number of years down the line. The methods used now will become outdated quicker and quicker as the technology improves. Relying on the learning curve to suppress the new users simply will not work because of this.

[alias_marks]

Thought some readers of this thread might find this interesting, Carol Bartz (when she was ceo @ autodesk) on how Autodesk looks at globalized pricing to match different countries and the piracy factor.

 

http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1407

[Trick]

Never knew that US-people were so poor (almost twice) compared to Europeans

[mohinder]

. I am not a soldier in their war, though I do have their guns pointed at me at all times.

 

I hear you but Kind of overly dramatic!

 

If software companys REALLY wanted to install uncrackable anti-piracy protections withing there products i'm sure they could as is witnessed by renderers such as the latest rock solid incarnations of vray and brazil.

Edited September 2, 2009 by mohinder

[jkletzien]

I'm not much one for beating my chest over my country, but how awesome is it that the country so many love to hate is the most honest.

 

It'll be interesting as more and more license servers are located remotely what kind controls, and price structure Autodesk etc...come up with. Rygoody's 10% idea is pretty cool, if hard to enforce, but at some point I think renting time on the software that links back to the license server in sausalito has to be on their minds. I imagine that'd curb a lot of piracy both from the users initial outlay cost, and from a technical POV.

[SandmanNinja]

My problem with using/renting software that authenticates remotely is this: what if I do not have an internet connection and want to use the software and what if the company goes out of business?

 

I currently use a piece of software in my photography business that is over 6 years old and the company went belly-up 3 years ago. Yet I still use it every day I take photos. It does a number of things simply and in a single app that a number of much more expensive programs do. Should I be forced to give up using the app just because it got orphaned by their company?

 

What if I'm in Addis Abbaba and want to quickly model a new road for their village? Oops - no internet connection there. Guess they will have to do without the new infrastructure.

 

Or what if the company's web server crashes when I have a deadline? Or is a victim of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack and we cannot connect to it?

 

I have no work-around solution. Companies can come up with self-destructive software that will expire after 30/60/90 days but people WILL crack the protection.

 

In a Global Market, there is no way to enforce regionalised use of the product. I can't tell people in India to only have clients in India. The Globalisation Genie is out of the bottle, so to speak.

[MandelbrotJr]

For those who wanted to know how this numbers are generated you might want to check this site :

 

http://global.bsa.org/idcglobalstudy2007/

 

These guys are the ones who commissioned the study. For those who don't know, "The Business Software Alliance is the voice of the world’s commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace", you get the picture

 

I always find these threads interesting because I experience all of this from different perspectives. I live in Argentina so I would be considered something between 3rd and 2nd world and while I haven't really done serious work in this industry I've been around for a long time. At the same time I work for IBM as a WW Enterprise Architect. The "globalization issue" that is deeply impacting this industry is exactly the same vehicle that most global companies have been using for the past decades to increase their profit. Heck IBM is roughly paying me 12usd / hour (which is a good salary in Argentina since we're 4 to 1 to the dollar) while at the same time charging 100usd/ hour for my services, you do the math. Same thing for companies building stuff in china for cents per unit.

 

The IT & Manufacturing world has been adjusting to this for decades and it's pretty stable by now, the rules are clear. I think the Archviz (a much newer industry in itself) has "just" started this process and it will take a while to settle.

Will be a top notch render be charged 5k in the future ? Don't think so. Will a top notch render be charged 40usd in the future ? Don't think so, the market will eventually regulate the lower end. I know it's not completely accurate to compare the IT world to Archviz, specially since the entry barrier to provide quality service is wildly different in both industries, but I do think it's the natural process for any industry adjusting to the new environment.

 

Interesting times, I think the real challenge won't be a matter of producing the best or cheapest renderings, I think the challenge will be providing the best VALUE to the business that need this services and find new and creative ways of providing similar services to new customers who don't know they need them yet.

[wasteland giant]

so I work in one of australia's biggest architectural companies and one of the 3D companies we outsource to ... I'mt sure that all their software is pirated and despite my attempts to steer us towards reputable businesses, the firm continues to use them. These guys have no wesbite and no office. Well, lets not call it these guys. Its one person.

 

I've been aggravated in the past and I find the whole thing to be really quite annoying. I really want us to support legitimate australian businesses but I can't get support on my side. They just won't use any of the great firms I suggested. Its ridiculous to think that these people are doing business without licensed software and ... making more money than me. As an inhouse staff, I don't make even close to what they do. I'd have no issues if the companies we chose to use was legitimate. We outsource a lot of the projects we do to crystal and idrawfast.

 

Its just plain insulting to be honest.

Edited September 7, 2009 by wasteland giant

[Nic H]

well its none of your business really.

 

its up to the individual wether they pay for software or not - you are not teh software police.

 

if you are upset by getting less pay than them then get out there and do it yourself!

[wasteland giant]

well its none of your business really.

 

its up to the individual wether they pay for software or not - you are not teh software police.

 

if you are upset by getting less pay than them then get out there and do it yourself!

 

 

well, that's a difference in opinion really? Its not even about the money. There are a few australian companies that I'd like for us to work with (lastpixel..etc) but for some reason, they chose to use the worst of the lot. Yes, I'm not the software police but that's this topic isn't it.

[mi75]

Its not hard to know the reason the place you work for goes OS for its renders, its all about the money, nothing to do with piracy.

 

If your that aggravated about this freelancer using pirated software but would also like to stay anonymous why don't you send him an anonymous email informing him that you know, and if he if he doesn't go legit then you'll report him? How you prove it I have no idea, Assumption can be the mother of all ####ups.

 

 

Mart

[mblar]

There are a few australian companies that I'd like for us to work with (lastpixel..etc).

 

Thanks for the kudos!!!