Long Post, general gist: Piracy? It's actually pretty good for the economy...
Now this thread is getting interesting...
In regards to the cost of shipping Avatar across the world...it would cost much less if there were centralized plants on each continent that produced the discs, but there aren't. They all ship from China, a country that can only compete in a global market with their abysmally low wage point.
In regards to piracy, we must remember that piracy has existed since the dawn of human history. All pirates do is make a little profit for themselves [which current internet pirates are not doing] while the main cheeses lose 10% of their profits...
IF they don't change their method of delivery. Avatar made as much money as it did because it embraced 3D and iMax, things you can't get from a pirated copy. Piracy has forced musicians to get back on the road and do more live tours, the only method by which a musician could make any money before that advent of data recording/transfer via computer. If they want to whine they didn't make $15 mil this year as opposed to $10 mil this year due to piracy, I say, "Fuck 'em." Poor babies, have to revert from a life of ease where they can just sit on their asses in the studio and wipe with the Benjamins that roll in! Let's not forget the proceeds from all the jukeboxes in the world every time someone plays a song.
Adobe allows their product to be pirated because it provides access to literally millions of coders to do open source modification to the program who wouldn't have access to it otherwise due to the prohibitive pricing. Adobe takes a look at the open source filters available for free that are being downloaded and in what numbers, then they hire those people to make formal alterations to the next version of Photoshop/Encore/Premiere/Illustrator/you-get-the-idea. Some alterations are so extreme they don't even get released as filters, they get releases as basic feature updates in the new release. So, they don't have to pay for a massive amount of R&D, and they also don't have to pay for a shite-ton of advertising, because everyone knows photoshop is the best...because they've gotten to use it for free.
Even hardware piracy gives a boost to trade and industry...if a company finds themselves the victim of a larger amount of "it-fell-off-a-truck" losses than other companies, they hire better drivers, or more security, or lower their costs in production [hopefully by using cheaper manufacturing methodologies, rather than undercutting the business...but such a choice wouldn't be because of piracy, but rather CEOs being skinflints]. These things produce jobs.
Perhaps the only industry that is really hurt by piracy is the video game industry...but then again, even though the Wii is the most pirated current-gen console, you don't see Nintendo closing their doors, do you? That's because they have shifted their production methodology to hardware, and stopped caring about software...how many DS's have come out in the last two years?
Game Devs suffer the most, but only because they don't use advanced technology like the PS3 [let the flamage begin] because it costs more to develop for a platform that doesn't mix exactly with pre-established engines for computers that use RAM instead of parallel-logic processing. Sony may have been scrambling in the last few months to deter pirates, but it cannot be denied that the PS3 is the least pirated of all the current systems, including PC. Result? First- and Second-Party devs exclusively for the PS3 can put out better games consistently, as they actually get almost every penny of sales, rather than have to suffer a $240 million loss as IW and Activision had to with COD:MW2 [40 million pirated copies, do the math].
What's the point? Piracy has always been around, and will always be around. Piracy forces companies and individuals who have become complacent with their profit margins to actively seek new ways to peddle their pond scum. Let us not forget that Western Union originally developed the telegram because of the rising costs involved with protecting post from brigands and theft. That reinforced banking [wire transfers not needing to be protected with mercenaries], city-to-city infrastructure [roads followed the wire routes], and even the formation of states and their acceptance to the union from the increase in speed of communication [North Dakota outbid several other agencies in the surrounding areas immediately by wire with their gold hills held hostage; the result being acceptance as a state with their own constitutional charter as opposed to a federal one].
Blu-Ray development might have taken another 5-10 years if not for heavy DVD piracy necessitating a change of media to a more exclusive format.
Piracy is good. It develops new technologies and increases jobs. Notice, I'm not saying, "Go out and do your part...be a pirate today!" I'm just saying people need to use their brains and let shit play out naturally.
Now this thread is getting interesting...
In regards to the cost of shipping Avatar across the world...it would cost much less if there were centralized plants on each continent that produced the discs, but there aren't. They all ship from China, a country that can only compete in a global market with their abysmally low wage point.
In regards to piracy, we must remember that piracy has existed since the dawn of human history. All pirates do is make a little profit for themselves [which current internet pirates are not doing] while the main cheeses lose 10% of their profits...
IF they don't change their method of delivery. Avatar made as much money as it did because it embraced 3D and iMax, things you can't get from a pirated copy. Piracy has forced musicians to get back on the road and do more live tours, the only method by which a musician could make any money before that advent of data recording/transfer via computer. If they want to whine they didn't make $15 mil this year as opposed to $10 mil this year due to piracy, I say, "Fuck 'em." Poor babies, have to revert from a life of ease where they can just sit on their asses in the studio and wipe with the Benjamins that roll in! Let's not forget the proceeds from all the jukeboxes in the world every time someone plays a song.
Adobe allows their product to be pirated because it provides access to literally millions of coders to do open source modification to the program who wouldn't have access to it otherwise due to the prohibitive pricing. Adobe takes a look at the open source filters available for free that are being downloaded and in what numbers, then they hire those people to make formal alterations to the next version of Photoshop/Encore/Premiere/Illustrator/you-get-the-idea. Some alterations are so extreme they don't even get released as filters, they get releases as basic feature updates in the new release. So, they don't have to pay for a massive amount of R&D, and they also don't have to pay for a shite-ton of advertising, because everyone knows photoshop is the best...because they've gotten to use it for free.
Even hardware piracy gives a boost to trade and industry...if a company finds themselves the victim of a larger amount of "it-fell-off-a-truck" losses than other companies, they hire better drivers, or more security, or lower their costs in production [hopefully by using cheaper manufacturing methodologies, rather than undercutting the business...but such a choice wouldn't be because of piracy, but rather CEOs being skinflints]. These things produce jobs.
Perhaps the only industry that is really hurt by piracy is the video game industry...but then again, even though the Wii is the most pirated current-gen console, you don't see Nintendo closing their doors, do you? That's because they have shifted their production methodology to hardware, and stopped caring about software...how many DS's have come out in the last two years?
Game Devs suffer the most, but only because they don't use advanced technology like the PS3 [let the flamage begin] because it costs more to develop for a platform that doesn't mix exactly with pre-established engines for computers that use RAM instead of parallel-logic processing. Sony may have been scrambling in the last few months to deter pirates, but it cannot be denied that the PS3 is the least pirated of all the current systems, including PC. Result? First- and Second-Party devs exclusively for the PS3 can put out better games consistently, as they actually get almost every penny of sales, rather than have to suffer a $240 million loss as IW and Activision had to with COD:MW2 [40 million pirated copies, do the math].
What's the point? Piracy has always been around, and will always be around. Piracy forces companies and individuals who have become complacent with their profit margins to actively seek new ways to peddle their pond scum. Let us not forget that Western Union originally developed the telegram because of the rising costs involved with protecting post from brigands and theft. That reinforced banking [wire transfers not needing to be protected with mercenaries], city-to-city infrastructure [roads followed the wire routes], and even the formation of states and their acceptance to the union from the increase in speed of communication [North Dakota outbid several other agencies in the surrounding areas immediately by wire with their gold hills held hostage; the result being acceptance as a state with their own constitutional charter as opposed to a federal one].
Blu-Ray development might have taken another 5-10 years if not for heavy DVD piracy necessitating a change of media to a more exclusive format.
Piracy is good. It develops new technologies and increases jobs. Notice, I'm not saying, "Go out and do your part...be a pirate today!" I'm just saying people need to use their brains and let shit play out naturally.