Business Management

A Question of Honesty

Licensing legal software and recognizing the value of intellectual property supports the economy.

Published

15 years ago

April 28, 2009

Sophie Matthews-Paul Signs of the Times April 2009 Issue

Reading about Adobe’s worldwide, workforce cutbacks, to the tune of some 600 employees, caused me to consider the thorny question of software acquisition. Adobe’s Creative Suites (CS), Microsoft Office and Quark Xpress are popular among thieves. Adobe CS, possibly, is most popular, as its software has a wide following.

Many image professionals, including display producers and signmakers, use Adobe’s CS software. Some use Photoshop or Lightroom; others rely on Illustrator, InDesign or the entire package, including DreamWeaver and Fireworks.

After Adobe’s CS4 introduction, with equal alarm and curiosity, I watched how swiftly pirates were placing the new software on the Internet, via BitTorrents or other sharing protocols. Illegal copies quickly spread around the world.

I’m pretty disgusted at the pride these people take in beating the system and breaking the law.

I can see the thieves’ standpoint, especially because the balance between hardware and software costs has swung from computers being the expensive element and software inexpensive, to the reverse. A top-end iMac costs less than Adobe’s $2,500 CS4 Master Collection. This surely causes user resentment. Nonetheless, it isn’t enough to justify passing illegal software copies.

Software piracy costs developers dearly. Suresh Balasubramanian, Adobe Systems’ director of worldwide anti-piracy, championed the 2008, Business Software Alliance study that says, globally, pirates caused the software industry to lose nearly $48 billion in sales in 2007. This number surely impacted layoff decisions.

Adobe takes a multi-pronged approach to piracy by promoting licensing benefits as well as supporting worldwide, enforcement efforts.

But does anyone really acknowledge threats and attempts to enforce these laws? For every CS user who pays for the software, hundreds don’t. Amazingly, this applies not only to less-fortunate individuals but, also, to some quite respectable companies.

Adobe’s Balasubramanian says licensing legal software and recognizing the value of intellectual property supports local economies and creates jobs.

Surely, we all owe something to software companies that have provided us with the tools of our trade; we certainly owe it to our customers to operate legally.

U.K.-based writer, photographer, editor and consultant, Sophie Matthews-Paul is an acknowledged authority on digital printing worldwide. You may contact her at sophie@rockstro.net

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