I worked in the education sector. Schools don't issue projects that require 30k software to complete. If they do, the software is supplied on school machines. Companies like Adobe/Autodesk have steep educational discounts on software if you want to use it at home.
Autocad isn't designed to be played around with on home computers by children. It's designed to be used by professionals, 12 hours a day, on million dollar projects. 2k is a drop in the bucket.
You learned math. Congratulations.
At last count I had ~40 PS3 games, x $80 on average for PS3 games, I've spent $3200 on PS3 games. I don't use iTunes but have quite a large CD/DVD/Blu-Ray collection reaching also into the 1000s of dollars. Is that unreasonable?
iTunes has actually helped a lot in the Music industry, as it saves you from buying an album for only two songs that you might like.
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That said I think their are some forms of piracy that are acceptable. Specifically regarding content that isn't available in your location and is provided for free elsewhere.
This.
I think piracy is an incredibly tough area to get right, a bit like prostitution, drugs and the like it needs to be treated without aggressive action or you will drive it underground and create a bigger problem.
There have been some interesting scenarios in here, particularly with regards to the expensive professional software. I can think of a few solutions to it, you could offer a cheaper solution for time-restricted license holders, say 10/15 hrs a week, which would cover weekend/part-time use. Sell it at a third of the normal RRP and you might start to discover you're making a whole new market. Whether it's actually feasible or not is another matter. Those who risk, win. As the saying goes.
Can't say a lot about the music industry, I don't know much about the innards of it or costs of production. I'll be blunt and say I've not paid much beyond a tenner for any album. It's just not expensive in my eyes, from professional experience, cost just isn't the factor in non-professional software piracy (any sector) though, it's ease of access. I've spent hundreds on music after finding bands on Youtube, it's a great shop window, like Steam is/can be on PC.
Unfortunately the biggest "image" issue is people see the aggression of some of the biggest companies and just use that to smear the whole of x industry with. No, it's the little guys who get hurt the most, they just have little power to do anything about it. I've worked with some of the biggest in my industry, and I'm not a fan of their attitude, but I'll counter that and say the good guys are
really good and don't get enough credit.
From our own view point, we don't tend to bother too much about it, we'll do what we can, but there's little point wasting huge resources on it, because there's no value in doing so for the little guy in the world of piracy. Even if it stings like hell when those who paid are the minority.
There will be changes ahead, I don't see physical production lasting much longer for games and music (the former probably taking the lead), don't see it happening with movies and the like for a bit longer though. It's inevitable, the cost differences are hyooge and although there's a crowd who like the physical copy, it is diminishing as benefits of digital copy are being introduced.
TL;DR
Don't see this bill working, but changes are needed, some of which can come from the production side. Not everyone is evil. Spongebob rocks.
). May be rather insignificant turnover from such an idea compared to selling to multi-license business, but it could still be turnover they don't have.
