Kochi: Even as computers are fast becoming an essential and integral part of the life of Indians, reports state that most of them do not pay for the software they use. Seventy three per cent of the total software used in India is pirated, says National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) officials. The total annual loss due to software piracy ranges between Rs 500-2,000 crore, they said.
A close look at software piracy in Kerala reveals that the situation is even worse. The estimated annual sale of computers in Kerala is now 96,000. “At least 98 per cent of the software used in Kerala is pirated. Even the software used in government computers are pirated as they are not willing to pay for the software,” says Santosh Kumar C, president of All Kerala IT Dealers Association.
Piracy in Kerala is not dealt seriously by software providers, said several computer engineers and technicians. Shameer Rehman, a systems engineer, said “The most pirated software is Windows, the operating system by Microsoft. But company officials are not taking any hard measures to control piracy. Only very few instances of piracy has been caught by Microsoft officials and they resorted to advising the defaulters rather than imposing any hefty fines. They seem to want to keep Windows as the most used operating system, which won’t be possible if strict actions are taken against piracy.”
But AKITDA officials and most software engineers pointed out that the high rates of piracy is due to the unaffordable price of software rather than people trying to cheat. A Pentium IV computer is sold at the range of Rs 22,000-25,000. But if the customer tries to buy the necessary software, he has to shell out around Rs 60,000. The price of Microsoft Windows XP home edition, which a customer cannot avoid as it is the operating system, is US $ 199 (around Rs 10,000). The customer cannot also avoid MS Office as a computer without it is useless for any work, and this would cost another US $ 399 (around Rs 20,000). Another essential software a customer needs in this age of digital photography is Adobe Photoshop, which will cost US $ 599 (around Rs 30,000).
Software Engineer Mr Rehman gives an example to prove that this phenomenon is true. “Tally, the most popular accounting software, prices its single user version at Rs 5,200. The networking edition of the same software to be used in ten computers is sold at Rs 15,000. More companies buy the networking version of this software as individual use in ten computers would cost Rs 52,000, whereas they get it for Rs 15,000 from the company itself.”
Explaining the problem further, Mr Rehman said “The problem is that the prices are fixed in US dollars, which is cheap for customers in Europe but not affordable to Indians as it amounts to tens of thousands of rupees when converted into Indian currency. Microsoft Windows and other similar software are pirated widely because of the high price of their networking versions.”
Companies like Microsoft have hidden agendas in not enforcing strict anti-piracy laws, says Mr Rehman. “Microsoft can easily develop locks in software that cannot be broken, but they won’t do it as they want to retain their market leadership. If they keep the laws stringent, people will switch to Linux, which is a freeware and therefore won’t cost anything or if at all any money has to be paid, it would be very less compared to the price of Windows.”
Awareness about software piracy is increasing, say experts. AKITDA officials now warn customers that they are using pirated software. Mr Kumar said “Customers used to think that the software that comes along with the computer comes for free and is their right. But now we tell customers that they have to spend more money for software and installs pirated software only with their consent. We also warn them that the software installed is in their own risk and we are not accountable for it.”
