A few months ago before I resign with the outsourcing company, I am searching for pirated copies of software that I need in developing web programs. Basically, a new version of Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop, Flash and Microsoft SQL server is what I need and so I scoured stalls in Greenhills, Quiapo and Tutuban but I guess, that's not my day because I can't find a single stall that sells pirated copies of those software.
A few days later, I've read an article in one of the known Filipino community websites about those pirated softwares and those stalls in greenhills. To my surprise they're all gone and that's probably due to intensive campaign of Bong Revilla and his predecessors against piracy. So, I told myself that I'll just stick with whatever software I have for now and buy an original copy of those software in the future.
But then again, I really need to upgrade my software because the copies I have is too old. For example, the current version of Adobe Photoshop is Photoshop CS2 and the version that I have is Photoshop 7.0. There are tricks that I might be missing for not using the latest version. Another thing is that I am looking for games installer for starcraft, warcraft and half-life. Yes, I like those games a lot but I don't want to spend too much for those games because I will only play those games once in a while.
After months of searching for stalls to buy cheaper copies of that software, I end up finding not one but two in establishments I don't expect to accommodate retailers that sell those kinds of items. Although the stall that I find sell those pirated copies, they don't have the latest version of the software that I needed the most so, I left the stall without buying a single installer.
The next option that I have is thru p2p network that some of my friends said have all kinds of installers including virus. Yes, virus is one of those stuffs that some users share on the p2p network so if you want to try downloading files thru the p2p network, think again. I'm not new when it comes to p2p but I can't believe that you can find software such as adobe Photoshop CS, adobe Imageready and macromedia flash in those file-sharing network. I only expect mp3 and videos other than that, nothing more.
But the Internet speed that I have is not good enough to download such volume of files so I decided not to choose that option either. I think I should wait for the right time to buy all those software because the one that worked in all those software are programmers too and like them, I don't want to lose a single penny to piracy. I don't want somebody to just use it unless I earn from it. There’s no pro bono thing when it comes to proprietary software. Developing complicated programs is not that easy. It takes time and a lot of effort not to mention the money you will spend each day developing those programs.
