Piracy Steals 95% of Microsoft's Revenue in China

[Siege_TF]

Seems the apologists are forgetting that China has one of the four most powerful economies in the world. It doesn't have any more excuse for piracy than Canada or the U.S., except that people will do whatever they can get away with; gernments, citizens, industry, and employees alike.

 

[CaptainKoala]

This is mostly a problem with the average wages of a Chinese citizen. If you take two people, and give one minimum wage, and the other 100,000$ a year. And you give each one the same opportunity to steal software. The one who makes more money will most likely buy it instead. This is because people are more inclined to do something when they have the means to do it.

 

[Siberian Relic]

I also FUCKING RAGE at this excuse, especially for people who pirate modern games. If you can afford a PC that can run Portal 2 or Starcraft 2, you can afford the game. Unless you wasted all your money on the computer, then you just fail at logic.

I think he's assuming most consumers who put aside the money for a new PC are smart enough to put aside some extra money for additional hardware or software. It's really short-sighted to do otherwise.

 

[Verlander]

Overstated and pure bullshot.

If MS Windows couldn't be pirated, only 10% of the people with computers right now would even consider buying it. If your demand drops to 10%, it would severely reduce "global demand" of MS, leading to many more businesses switching over to a different product to begin with.

Trust me, getting rid of piracy in developing country is a very tricky business. One less pirate != one more customer. If anything, it almost always lead to smaller acceptance and less global demand.

Woah there! That's simply not true. MS Windows runs an almost monopoly like status over the entire computing world, of which the vast majority of people are ignorant but still use.

Computing analogies work best when you compare the industry to the car industry in the USA. For many years, and still to this day, a vast majority of cars bought in the USA were American cars, not because of any kind of quality, but because they were cheap and recognisable. Also, they were the easiest to fix, because they held such a monopoly, the actual quality of the car be damned! Only recently have Euro and Japanese cars become popular, or in any way affordable over there. People knew American cars, and that's what they went for. Microsoft products are the American cars of the computing world: Easy for beginners, what most people are used to, and not quite as bad as fans of other brands make them out to be. These are the reasons that Microsoft is used, not because everyone downloads it.

 

[Mangue Surfer]

I'll be ignored again, but you guys are wrong. It's not because people can't afford it. It's that people don't see why they should give money to a foreign company. I know, I live in a third world country. We are educated to think in this way. We learn this "it's too expensive" excuse before we can say "mom" or "dad". Until the government is encouraging since the punishment for those who use piracy is virtually non-existent. Country that doesn't massively produce software don?t respect copyright software of others.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Rage much?

...what? Really?

Oh c'mon man, I was being sarcastic. I even said they didn't provide a demo (pirating reason #1) and immediately linked to the ninety day demo.

Of course I was joking but I didn't want to tag it with /sarcasm at the end because it should be plainly obvious that it was a joke. /sarcasm encourages laziness and completely removes the actual point of sarcasm.

Oh incidentally I mainly use Linux on my machines. I like the OS as a mobile solution, Ubuntu especially because it doesn't take any hassle to do things.

Haha oh well that's a noob move on my part.
I'm usually alright at picking up on this but for some reason I really thought you were raging lol.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Well, that's communism for you. Share those files comrade. Ideologically, they see nothing wrong with it, hell, spiting Microsoft is probably just a bonus. You know, don't give money to the capitalist dogs.

 

[Baresark]

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Ten yuan to spend on Hershey bars or 1000 yuan to spend on Hershey bars, it doesn't matter if the relative value of yuan-to-dollar is fixed. If Hershey bars are trading today at one dollar per bar or 10 yuan per bar and the value of a dollar plummets 50% overnight on the open currency market, then tomorrow Hershey bars will trade at two dollars per bar or 5 yuan per bar with the result that despite a decrease in the value of the US dollar on the open market, the yuan buys exactly as much Hershey bar as it did before the value of the dollar plummeted. Doesn't matter if you're buying 10 yuan worth of Hershey or 1000 yuan worth of Hershey. Relative to the dollar, you're still getting the same amount of Hershey-to-yuan after the dollar's value fell as you were before it fell. The inverse is also true. If the dollar rises 50% in value, then Hershey bars trade at 50 cents a bar or 20 yuan per bar and the yuan buys the same amount of Hershey after the open market rise in a dollar's value as it did before the open market rise of a dollar's value.

This is why the Big Boxes so love what China's done by fixing the relative value of the yuan. Regardless of where the dollar heads on the open market, they still get to buy the same amount of cheap Chinese shit with their dollars. And don't have to bother monitoring the open currency market, waiting for the best open market value to buy from the Chinese. There is no "best" time to buy from the Chinese. It's always a good time.

You are a sneaky bastard, my friend. The topic of discussion very much started out how the amount MS charges for Windows 7 is too much, at least from my perspective. The fact is, exchange rates are completely immaterial because the price MS charges for Windows has nothing at all to do with exchange rates. To keep the conversation simple, I pointed out that on release they charged $59 for basic edition, as far as exchange rates were concerned. Then I pointed out, using empirical data taken from the CIA World Factbook to back up my point, that a great many people don't make enough money to spend that much on an OS. I also mentioned the expansion of individual wealth in China, and backed that up with empirical facts, specifically drawn from the works of the Economist Johan Norberg. Then you changed the discussion, haha. Sneaky sneaky.

 

[Baresark]

I'll be ignored again, but you guys are wrong. It's not because people can't afford it. It's that people don't see why they should give money to a foreign company. I know, I live in a third world country. We are educated to think in this way. We learn this "it's too expensive" excuse before we can say "mom" or "dad". Until the government is encouraging since the punishment for those who use piracy is virtually non-existent. Country that doesn't massively produce software don?t respect copyright software of others.

I would still think the cost factor would be a major weigh in though. It may not be that it's too much, but cost does play in it. For instance, the benefit of paying for it does not outweigh the benefit of pirating it. One is cheaper and easier, and therefore that is the path most taken. The market in a third world country must allow for cost differences to transfer into that nation without being either too cheap or too expensive, in this case, it's too expensive.

I definitely see your point though, foreign developed software and items probably seem less than important in your eyes and the eyes of your countrymen. A lot of people feel that IP's actually hurt companies and customers more than help anyone. So, even in America, there is still rampant piracy, though not as much as there is in third world countries. Cost is usually cited as a chief factor though.

 

[gphjr14]

Well, that's communism for you. Share those files comrade. Ideologically, they see nothing wrong with it, hell, spiting Microsoft is probably just a bonus. You know, don't give money to the capitalist dogs.

China has a communist government while using free market economics. They really don't care about US profits just Chinese since all that money isn't going to the majority of the Chinese people living in rural areas.

 

[Xan Krieger]

That seems like a stupid assumption.
"We're selling less games in China so it MUST be because of piracy!"
Really? That whole 95% difference in sales is caused solely by file sharing?

Plus, just because they can afford a PC doesn't mean they can afford a good one. Maybe they're just buying a cheap computer to do basic tasks instead of a giant gaming rig.

Connecting their ability to buy a computer with their ability to buy games they might not be able to run seems like flawed logic to me.

I agree with this. There's no evidence to any of these claims here, it's all just baseless assumptions.

Also, maybe some countries aren't as privileged as some other places, did some of you people ever think of this? Sometimes it's the only option.

And that justifies stealing? Being poor does not mean you can steal things from other people.

 

[timeadept]

Am I the only one who doesn't understand these numbers? I've heard it said before that not every pirate is a lost customer. Some that pirate do it because they can't afford to pay, others because they're not interested enough in the product to get it for the asking price, and others will pirate regardless of whether they can afford the product or whether they think it's worth what they're asking. This final type of pirate is the kind you should try to stop if you want to see an increase in revenue. There was no mention as to what type of pirate they were talking about, so i really don't understand what that 95% means.

Also there were other confusing things going on so that even if the type of pirate were specified, I wouldn't be able to understand it. Like "Microsoft's revenue in China is 95 percent less than in the United States." Does that take into account population density? Or more importantly population density of thous who own computers? What about the age of those computers? Are they capable of running the most recently released programs?

"In India, Microsoft apparently earned six times more per PC sold than it did in China." Is this calculated on a yearly basis? Does it take into account PCs that are being used but whose purchase was not recorded with the Indian market? Do Indians need and use their PCs more than the Chinese? And again, does this take into account only the portion of the population that own PCs?

I don't find these numbers that useful but maybe they're explained in the source article.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Well, that's communism for you. Share those files comrade. Ideologically, they see nothing wrong with it, hell, spiting Microsoft is probably just a bonus. You know, don't give money to the capitalist dogs.

China has a communist government while using free market economics. They really don't care about US profits just Chinese since all that money isn't going to the majority of the Chinese people living in rural areas.

Sorta my point, why would they care about the profits of a U.S. company? I wasn't exactly being serious though.

 

[JDKJ]

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Ten yuan to spend on Hershey bars or 1000 yuan to spend on Hershey bars, it doesn't matter if the relative value of yuan-to-dollar is fixed. If Hershey bars are trading today at one dollar per bar or 10 yuan per bar and the value of a dollar plummets 50% overnight on the open currency market, then tomorrow Hershey bars will trade at two dollars per bar or 5 yuan per bar with the result that despite a decrease in the value of the US dollar on the open market, the yuan buys exactly as much Hershey bar as it did before the value of the dollar plummeted. Doesn't matter if you're buying 10 yuan worth of Hershey or 1000 yuan worth of Hershey. Relative to the dollar, you're still getting the same amount of Hershey-to-yuan after the dollar's value fell as you were before it fell. The inverse is also true. If the dollar rises 50% in value, then Hershey bars trade at 50 cents a bar or 20 yuan per bar and the yuan buys the same amount of Hershey after the open market rise in a dollar's value as it did before the open market rise of a dollar's value.

This is why the Big Boxes so love what China's done by fixing the relative value of the yuan. Regardless of where the dollar heads on the open market, they still get to buy the same amount of cheap Chinese shit with their dollars. And don't have to bother monitoring the open currency market, waiting for the best open market value to buy from the Chinese. There is no "best" time to buy from the Chinese. It's always a good time.

You are a sneaky bastard, my friend. The topic of discussion very much started out how the amount MS charges for Windows 7 is too much, at least from my perspective. The fact is, exchange rates are completely immaterial because the price MS charges for Windows has nothing at all to do with exchange rates. To keep the conversation simple, I pointed out that on release they charged $59 for basic edition, as far as exchange rates were concerned. Then I pointed out, using empirical data taken from the CIA World Factbook to back up my point, that a great many people don't make enough money to spend that much on an OS. I also mentioned the expansion of individual wealth in China, and backed that up with empirical facts, specifically drawn from the works of the Economist Johan Norberg. Then you changed the discussion, haha. Sneaky sneaky.

Yes, I am a sneaky bastard, but that may be beside the point in this case. You said that the yuan competes with and is rising against the US dollar. I corrected what I saw as your misstatement of the situation. You opened the door. All I did was walk through it.

And that China fixes the yuan-dollar rate at a point way above that which the free market would is, I think, entirely relevant to what it cost the Chinese to purchase an American product. In the same way that the artificially fixed rate makes it attractive for Americans to buy Chinese goods is the way in which that rate makes it unattractive for the Chinese to buy American goods. If the yuan-dollar rate wasn't fixed, the free market forces would almost certainly cause that rate to fall. If the rate falls, then it would be less expensive for the Chinese to buy an American product with their yuan.

Here's the perfect example of what I'm talking about: if Barcelona has just scored its third goal to Manchester United's one goal, can Manchester United come back from that kind of deficit with only 20 minutes to go before the final whistle blows? Probably not.

 

[ProjectTrinity]

But it allows Chinese people to try out an operating system that they're not sure about!

But Windows has bad DRM so Chinese people are indignant about it!

Other jokes related to the shitty arguments that pirates use are welcomed. ^_^

This is so win.

Excuses and high horses are what pirates are best at collecting. ^_^

 

[Mangue Surfer]

I'll be ignored again, but you guys are wrong. It's not because people can't afford it. It's that people don't see why they should give money to a foreign company. I know, I live in a third world country. We are educated to think in this way. We learn this "it's too expensive" excuse before we can say "mom" or "dad". Until the government is encouraging since the punishment for those who use piracy is virtually non-existent. Country that doesn't massively produce software don?t respect copyright software of others.

I would still think the cost factor would be a major weigh in though. It may not be that it's too much, but cost does play in it. For instance, the benefit of paying for it does not outweigh the benefit of pirating it. One is cheaper and easier, and therefore that is the path most taken. The market in a third world country must allow for cost differences to transfer into that nation without being either too cheap or too expensive, in this case, it's too expensive.

I definitely see your point though, foreign developed software and items probably seem less than important in your eyes and the eyes of your countrymen. A lot of people feel that IP's actually hurt companies and customers more than help anyone. So, even in America, there is still rampant piracy, though not as much as there is in third world countries. Cost is usually cited as a chief factor though.

Well, in my country the "middle" class is the one that most consumes piracy. The really poor haven't money even for buy DVDR.

 

[Littlee300]

I read that as 'minecraft'

Personally, I see microsoft as a bunch of moneygrabbing applebuckers so I'm not particularly swayed either way.

Isn't every company. Even a lot of the non profit organizations.

 

[Littlee300]

OK, I don't deny that piracy costs companies some money (not much, but some) but...95%? No.

I'd like to know how you were able to be so sure of that.

 

[Belated]

The thing is, people sell bootlegs in China, and nobody stops 'em. Chances are a very large percentage of those pirated games are street vendor bootlegs selling for significantly cheaper than the legal stores do. The government shouldn't necessarily be busting people's doors down just over an ill-gotten game. But they should certainly be preventing its reproduction and sale by a third party.

The percentage might be a bit skewed too though. Some people who've pirated a game might not have actually bought the game if piracy wasn't available. I'm not saying this is how most piracy is, but the actual amount of revenue lost is probably at least a little lower than the number reflects.