i know that 99.99999999% of the people here buy pirated software and most of them think that this is the normal price for a software. but even you do have piracy you can appreciate the developers work and buy their software legally if it is available.
So are you with piracy , or you go legal all the way if you can (the problem is that legal softwares are rare here :p) ?
i refuse to answer :P
Helloooooooo !!! U're Lebanese right ?
Well I really admire the Legal Software and legal licenses of stuff, I also feel with the developers and companies responsible for the software. But many times I do buy pirated software due to many reasons:

1. I don't have enough money to spend on lots of licensed software at the same time.

2. The whole environment we are living in does not promote by any means any feeling of duty in us, for example when I see that the jiran are stealing my water, and other people stealing electricity, others stealing in front of your eyes in midday, and leaders stealing from the whole country you just feel that you are in a place were vice is something ordinary, so pirated software is ordinary too.

3. I have a little belief in me that says, software should be free for everyone, that's why I support freeware and open source and that's why I believe that some commercial software has the potential to be free or at least less pricey.

I usually prefer legal stuff, and open source is one way you can go if you do not want to pay and stay on the safe side, while piracy is another way, in fact... a lebanese way :P

When you pay for legal software such as buying a 200$ copy of a Microsoft product, well it is obvious that millions of people around the world may be doing so, that means lots of money is going into the pockets of profiteering gluttons, not any money, excess money. If they lower the prices a bit maybe more people will be able to pay, many people like legal software but just cant afford it. Even if they lower the prices they will still profit, but you know greed is part of the human nature.
long live legal stuff !
i have my Norton anti-virus legal and my windows vista legal and my office too ! and i have pirated ones too after all i live in a country that it is hard to find any legal software.
the problem is not in the price of the software but with ignorance and stupidity of the people. you know when a regular guy want to get a pc he request all possible software and does not use them: like photoshop and its all suite, office and all of them, autocad, all the browsers, name any software and he wants it.
this why you think that they are so costy. but indeed an average guy needs: the OS, antivirus, office the lowest edition. if he want to edit pics there are some other freewares that have the basic photoshop stuff, the net is full of freeware for non pro.
there is one place where piracy is useful: it is when you are practicing on some pro software. don't expect a graphics design student buying all his software legally same case for a CCE or software engineer or civil engineer student. here piracy does help. but once graduated and strat making money from the software well he must do that cause after all poeple are working to make those software.
i blame lebanon not us! if these pirated resources are available its like were telling ppl to buy pirated stuff ;) besides if i want to buy every game as original , I would be spending 500 dollars a year at least! which is absolutely ridiculous.
you don't have to play everygame !
with an original game and a decent net (we don't have that) you can play a game forever.

why do you think most of the game have been delayed from november ? the existence of MW2 made them do that ! cause releasing a game in the same period as MW2 means this game won't sell. it is like brands in electronics. here because it is cheap we have each game

i wanted GTA IV original, i went to virgin megastore and begged them to get me one but it was not possible ! none have original PC games. only PS3 cause it is not hackable.
if you wanna stop piracy you need to stop china and Russia and syria
2. The whole environment we are living in does not promote by any means any feeling of duty in us, for example when I see that the jiran are stealing my water, and other people stealing electricity, others stealing in front of your eyes in midday, and leaders stealing from the whole country you just feel that you are in a place were vice is something ordinary, so pirated software is ordinary too.
OMG THAT MADE M DAY HAHAHAHA, but still i do believe that your environment should not take you away from your principles, if you live in drugland Denmark, will you smoke pot just because its legal ?

I believe that genuine is the way to go, but unfortunatly it is not possible to do so in lebanon, first of all, they are barely available, what sane person would want to buy a pc game for 50 $ when he could buy the SAME game for just 1000 LL ?

As far as the OS is concerned, just buy genuine, even if its even more expensive around here, pirated OS = vulnerability = spread of viruses. Updates are important people, and really i eventually got bored of cracking vista, i used every single crack that was available and this time, microsoft you win, im buying original 7!

Oh and btw GN90 i also got GTA IV from norway original !:P And played it online, but there are barely any players that do play it online, and the latency is so high that some players shoot me without even spotting them ... : /
the best thing about originals is Support !
too bad people here don't have the education to understand
It all starts when internet speeds rise in lebanon !
Well, support is one good thing about legal software. In my opinion, it is less important on the personal level than it is on the corporate one. For example, If you have some sort of company and you are using pirated software you are doomed:

1. In case you get into a problem there is no official support.

2. In case someone tells the software company that the company is using pirated software(and it happens) beykherboulak baytak

I am not saying that I am against legal software, no I like legal stuff in everything but sometimes high prices make you suffer + regarding my financial level as a student. For example I wanted to buy legal copies of Adobe CS4 Master Collection and JBuilder 8 Theyn would cost me $2,499 + $724 = $3223. From were will I get them? This is excluding the genuine OS, and Anti virus which can also cost a fortune.

So for now I try as much as I can to use freeware and open source stuff, but when I need Licensed software I most of the time buy pirated due to financial reasons. When I get a decent job with a decent salary, then there wont be any reason for me to keep using pirated software
GN90 wroteyou don't have to play everygame !
with an original game and a decent net (we don't have that) you can play a game forever.

why do you think most of the game have been delayed from november ? the existence of MW2 made them do that ! cause releasing a game in the same period as MW2 means this game won't sell. it is like brands in electronics. here because it is cheap we have each game

i wanted GTA IV original, i went to virgin megastore and begged them to get me one but it was not possible ! none have original PC games. only PS3 cause it is not hackable.
if you wanna stop piracy you need to stop china and Russia and syria
prob getting COD6 original! good enough for you? :D
I use Open Source and Free software. All the sh*t I have on my computer is free. Legally.
Opensource. That's say everything.
I have legal Vista shipped with Laptop, using it for development (many of customers is on Windows).
Only software i buy last 2-3 years is Kaspersky antivirus for 2 my friends.
a month later
The only reason I don't get legal stuff is because genuine software can not be found here, and their prices are exaggerated compared to the real stuff.

However, since online transcations is becoming more and more common, I've been purchasing some legal software, if I see it merits.
All I know is that I'm not paying $200 for Microsoft Office.
Tako_400 wroteAll I know is that I'm not paying $200 for Microsoft Office.
Try OpenOffice.org ... you don't have to be a pirate to save money ...
i also recommend open-office