Comments on: Vietnam: Where pirated apps match personal budgets

Many Vietnamese view pirated software as the only way they can afford the apps they want and need. Considering their wage scale, they aren't necessarily wrong.

[QuietAmerican]

It may be stealing but it?s not that simple. Today, if you buy a version of Microsoft software in Vietnam, there is no support in Vietnamese for you but you have to pay the same price an American making 5,000usd a month. If you are lucky enough to get a job making shoes for Nike (an American company) here, they would pay you less than 100usd a month. A typical college student in Vietnam lives on about 50usd per month.

In Vietnam, Microsoft, Autodesk and a few other US software companies offered great deals to State Owned Companies and Government offices two years ago. After that, everybody else in Vietnam is at the mercy of the local Business Software Alliance (BSA) who are created and run by Singaporean modern day colonists with laptops. Now you know the inside story. Think about that before you cry ?piracy?. Think about that before you accuse someone of stealing.

We understand that the software belongs to Microsoft and they can charge a poor Vietnamese whatever price they want but this is the only thing that they have that would allow them and their children an opportunity to access to the information and technologies of the modern world. It?s a different kind of product than a shoe or a laptop. There must be a better way to do this. Microsoft can easily put a label on the screen saying:? Asian/ Vietnam version? and sell it at a price that more reasonable to the local standard of living. If an American buys the product to use it in the US, he would pirate your software anyway. Let?s give people a chance to be honest first. I am sure the US software companies will receive more revenue from software in developing countries by lowering the price than harassing the poor users. It?s the same story we have seen with the NCAA and the athletics. We like to create unreasonable rules so we can point the finger at a kid from a housing project and accusing him of cheating while some guys in suit are making all the money.

Thank God Dong Ngo understand this. Thank you, Dong, for the article.

[QuietAmerican]

Revised version. I was in a hurry

It may be stealing but it is not that simple. If you buy a copy of Microsoft software in Vietnam today, there is no support in Vietnamese for you but you have to pay the same price an American making 5,000usd a month. If you are lucky enough to get a job making shoes for Nike (an American company) here, they would pay you less than 100usd a month for your labor if you can keep up. A typical college student in Vietnam lives on about 50usd per month.

In Vietnam, Microsoft, Autodesk and a few other US software companies offered great deals to State Owned Companies and Government offices two years ago. After that, everybody else in Vietnam is at the mercy of the local Business Software Alliance (BSA) which was created and run by Singaporean modern-day-colonists armed with laptops and exclusive distributorship. Now you know the inside story. Please think about that before you cry piracy. Think about that before you accuse someone of stealing money from Bill Gates.

We understand that the software belongs to Microsoft and they can charge a poor Vietnamese whatever price they want but the software is the only tool Vietnamese have that would allow them and their children an opportunity to access to the information and technologies of the modern world. It is a different kind of product than a shoe or a laptop where it costs next to nothing to make more without support. There must be a better way to do this and I am sure they are smart enough to know that already. Microsoft can easily put a label on the screen saying: Asian/Vietnam version and sell it at a price that is more reasonable to the local standard of living. If an American buys the product to use it in the US, he would pirate your software anyway. Let us give people a chance to be honest first. I am sure the US software companies will receive more revenue from software in developing countries by lowering the price than harassing the poor users. It is the same story we have seen with the NCAA and the athletics. We like to create unreasonable rules so we can point the finger at kids from housing projects and accusing them of cheating while the guys in suits are making all the money.

Thank God Dong Ngo understands this. Thank you, Dong, for the article.

[ivanoctavianus]

This news that you brought to us is happening totally the same way in Indonesia.
Workers income in Indonesia is nowhere near the price of Genuine Software.
I disagree with piracy, but agree with different software pricing for low income country.

[cgzcci]

Microsoft is deliberately not enforcing their copyrights: they want people in developing nations to get hooked on Windows, while at the same time preventing re-imports and charging international corporations regular prices. As a bonus, they get to reap some political capital from their posturing.

I think the people who pirate Microsoft software should be held responsible and thrown in jail. Why? Not because Microsoft loses money (Microsoft is a bunch of highway bandits themselves), but because they distort the market and hurt everybody in the long run. Those are the people that have made Microsoft a near-monopoly and have created this problem in the first place.

Buy and use software you can afford; there is no excuse for pirating Microsoft software--Microsoft makes nothing that's essential to anybody.

[shawnlin]

If anyone of you have done business in Asia (excluding Japan, Singapore, and areas controlled by western nations), it is common practice for people & companies to steal and cheat. The only way to reduce the chance of this from happening is to have means to screw anyone that cheats you back even harder. There is no point and is a waste of time arguing right v.s. wrong or legal v.s. illegal.

Want to reduce the piracy problem in Asia to levels closer to US & Western Europe? Simple, start nuking/bombing countries that have high piracy rates. That will get the point across very fast and there won't be any "cultural misunderstandings" as this is a common "action language" that everyone will understand. Once you allow yourself to get into the debate of human rights or what is fair/unfair, you have already lost.

[Chandaxi]

Not so far from USA, here in Colombia, Central and Southamerica, there is same or less income than in 'Nam, and of course, we have to 'share' almost all software and media. I guess people with great incomes pay enough for people with nothing to get free stuff and make a little fair world. Yet i know from very rich peps getting free music and stuff, and complainning for hardware costs, wich finally affects us all given the fact that updated software keep asking for newer and expensive hardware. Days are coming where rich and poor will cry the same, so, sharing is in everybody's future survival. Let's enjoy the present.

[fokkwp]

As always, piracy is not a cost to the producers of big titles. Adobe won't sell Photoshop to any of these folks anyway, but is undoubtedly happy that the whole of Vietnam is growing up addicted to their graphics program rather than somebody else's. That's where the loss comes in: to the producers of inexpensive and open source alternatives to Adobe, Microsoft, and other high-priced, high-profit software. Those competitors lose an opportunity to expand their market and/or user base every time Photoshop is sold for $1.

[jarturof]

It is ridiculous to pay over $30 usd for any piece of software, the reproduction cost of a piece of software is almost nothing, for $1.00 usd you can get the CD or DVD a plastic small box and the image on the cover, they made tons of money for a single copy, it is simply not fair, worse in poor countries, where a CD will cost a month of work, A MONTH!!

[paulej]

Piracy is bad, but it is not as bad as some would lead us to believe. After all, the fact that people there are all pirating Adobe CS4 helps to solidify Adobe's market position. There are other really good graphics products that are much cheaper (e.g., Corel Paint Shop Pro), but piracy helps to reduce sales of cheaper alternatives. The same can be said for Windows: some level of piracy helps to ensure Microsoft's dominance in the market.

So, piracy is not all bad.

[SenorFrog]

Vietnam: How much of this cracked software also contains malware like backdoors and trojans? And how many Vietnamese government offices and businesses also buy these cracked versions of software? Forget the economic damage you're doing to Western nations, look toward your own self interest. Not only is there the potential for your nation to become a giant botnet, but you're leaving yourself open to loss of business and government secrets.

[hodumb]

If you don't have any luxus toys for your computer,you still alive . Please don't be a stealer !!