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Piracy isn't all bad either. It's pretty horrendous for our industry (because essentially only retarded and ethically pure people pay for it) but I'd say our industry wouldn't be what it is without piracy.
Microsoft is one of the richest companies in the world because of piracy. Without it, an "internet year" would be more of a normal year, instead of a 1 month window. Piracy is like a virus, and the popular/important works get spread around faster than any single form of media is capable of providing. Would you all be using Photoshop if it weren't for piracy?
No grade 9 students can afford to buy Photoshop, yet when they reach the age they can buy it, and/or work for a company that bought it, they're well educated and experienced with the program.
The same goes for any high end piece of software such as 3DSMax, AutoCAD, Mathematica, and many more. Windows especially. The reason it's so dominant: Piracy.
GOOD musicians and indy film makers have also benefited greatly from piracy, by allowing them to reach the masses without the budgets of the big companies. There are thousands of artists available in stores today that WERE NOT available in stores when people started pirating their music. I'm talking had 3 albums out before they had any kind of record or distribution deal, but were given one from their "piracy popularity".
Face it: a great many of you are using an illegal version of windows, with illegal software, downloading illegal music and movies, as you read this. I know it hurts when it hits us in the pockets, and surely I've seen the decline in my numbers - but let's not forget those numbers got so big on the backs of other industries being pirated! Without it, we aren't what we are today.
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