Piracy bad for the channel
A new study commissioned by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) has revealed that over a quarter of all software installed on PCs in the UK is unlicensed. Furthermore it appears that this has been the case for at least the past three years.
In a masterpiece of statistical extrapolation, the study has estimated that “a reduction in PC software piracy by 10 percentage points over four years (currently standing at 27 per cent), could create a stronger local IT sector, generate 13,220 new high paying jobs, £1.08 billion in tax revenues and contribute £4.46 billion to the UK’s economy.” We assume that in this utopia piracy stands at 17 rather than 24.3 per cent.
The study was actually carried out by IDC, who predicted that the UK IT sector would be worth £52 billion by 2011, employ 638,000 people (that’s £81 grand each folks – woohoo!) and generate £32.5 billion in tax revenues.
Of course the channel has a huge vested interest in reducing piracy as every bit of dodgy software in circulation is a product not being bought from the channel. Additionally IDC found that for every £1 spent on legitimate packaged software, an additional £1.25 is spent on related services such as installing the software, training personnel, and providing maintenance services. As most of these benefits accrue to locally-based resellers, etc, the study concludes that this is a matter of political as well as legal importance.
“Reducing PC software piracy is important for business owners and SMEs in order to reduce the legal and business risks of using unlicensed software,” said John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC. “But software is unique in its ability to drive value throughout other sectors. Thus, policy makers should find a compelling case for taking steps to reduce software piracy in order to reap the economic benefits of a strong national software and IT sector. It’s clear that reducing software piracy delivers real results that help real people with real challenges.”
