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A quick BIG THANKS to Palm Addicts for a recent mention of Palm Discovery on their front page!

This open letter from Alex Kac of Pocket Informant has been making various rounds around the PDA device community already and although I normally don’t like to post simply for the sake of adding another one in the pot, I think that it is quite important to spread the news about this. Sure, it comes from a Pocket PC developer and not really related to Palms, but I feel that it does affect us all in the PDA community as the entire PDA community is starting to congregrate together and become less segregated (less of Palm vs PPC, Palm vs WM, etc) and I personally am embracing the entire community as a whole.

Piracy is all around us

Software piracy isn’t a new idea. Think of Microsoft Windows, games, utilities and a lot of other software that many people use but few actually disclose that they actually “paid” for them. Think of many of your friends and how they’re able to have such a huge collection of games or programs. If you tried to calculate how much it would actually “cost” in dollar terms of the value of the software they have, it’s quite obvious that he/she could not have afforded it.

Piracy affect everyone

I just wanted to say that software piracy, regardless of whether you care or not, affects everyone. Just like shoplifting. Do you stop to notice that a lot of places now post “informative” signs about shoplifting? Obviously they are there to make people re-think before shoplifting, but it’s also there to let people know that if you let someone shoplift, someone else has to “pay” for it. Obviously the store will originally absorb the cost of a stolen good, but it can’t continue to do so. In order to “pay” for the cost of the lost good, the store will either have to sell more, or raise the price, which is normally the action most stores take. So, as a consumer, we may not “notice” the higher price due to shoplifting, but we do “pay” for it.

Who pays?

The same idea applies with software piracy. Most software programmers and developers spend lots of time, money and effort to develop a game, software, utility program in hopes that it will “pay” him back, at least for the cost of developing it. Keep in mind that most of these developers aren’t well paid. Many of them are just doing it as a hobby, on the side, while they are working their day job, which could be anything and whatever they make from their day job goes into program development for their hobby. I can bet you that most of the developers of programs that we know and love like Initiate, Datebk6, Resco Explorer, TCPMP, etc are starving programmers that make programs because they love doing it and not because of the money. I bet that the proceeds they get from them are very paltry, especially if you purchase them via third party software download sites like Pocketgear, Handango, etc since those sites charge way too much commission or fees that only a small percentage goes back to the developer.

Developer gets very little of the purchase price

So, if you look at the price of the software, say the typical $15.95 price, even if you purchase it online from Palmgear, it’s quite likely that the developer (I am not familiar with how much Palmgear charges) may only get $9 or so or even less. Apparently from many forums, it seems that these download sites charge around 40% of the price for fees. Wow! So, most of the money doesn’t even go back to the person who spent months developing and debugging. Obviously not very fair. But that’s typically how much the developer bends over backwards to make his software visible, popular and easily accessible for the customer. Here’s a link to an old forum posting that gives some idea on this.

Only if software is ‘bought’

Let’s not forget that the developers only get the money IF THE CONSUMER BUYS THE SOFTWARE. If not, well, the developer gets zilch, nada, nothing, squat. All the time he has spent writing code, debugging (that takes up a huge chunk of time) and he gets nothing. That’s fine if his software isn’t well written or that it doesn’t appeal to consumers. But, what if it is hugely, okay, maybe even mildly popular? He goes to Palmgear or Handango to check the number of times it’s been downloaded and then checks on how many copies have been purchased. If he’s lucky, he may get a few, of course, after all the fees has been taken off, he probably has hardly enough to buy himself a lunch.

Underlying costs of developing software

There’s a lot of costs involved in developing a software. Think of the graphics of the program. You can’t create the nice looking graphics or skin without some kind of software program. That costs money. What about the sounds? In order to create the music or sounds, obviously that means something as well. And don’t forget about the programming software as well. The Palm OS programming software costs a lot of money. But of course, you can get some for free or at least cheaper but they take a bit of time to learn. Again, that translates to money and time.

It’s a shame to think that all that work and effort, time and money spent can be for nothing if people decide to get them illegally for free.

How can piracy hurt? I’m not stealing

The common excuse I hear about this is that, how can it hurt them? I’m not stealing. But, you are, if you are getting it for free if it’s normally only obtained via purchase. You may not be able to physically go into the house of the developer and steal a physical copy of the program, but if you are using it without paying for it, you are stealing. Using something that you do not own is stealing. By definition, stealing is: take without the owner’s consent. So, if you are using a software without the owner’s consent (ie. pay a license), YOU ARE STEALING. And, the last time I checked, stealing is illegal. But that doesn’t stop people from stealing.

Hurting yourself via piracy

Aside from hurting the developer through their pocket book (by not buying the software and getting it elsewhere or via other means illegally), you are essentially hurting yourself. How can I do that, you ask? Very simple. How likely will the developer continue to work hard at improving or develop new programs if he doesn’t get a penny or much at all from it? Think of all the hours and effort put into something that he sweated over only to find that it’s hugely pirated and only a small number of people actually paid for it. And don’t forget the small paltry amount he gets after all the fees are taken out. How likely do you think that this developer will be in creating anything else and wasting his time?

What does that mean? No more great software or program. It doesn’t pay so why waste his time in this money losing project? Doesn’t take much to figure that out. The same can be applied with my website as an example. Without the support of the readers in purchasing products with my affiliate links, I can’t keep paying the hosting bills to keep Palm Discovery alive. Same idea. If you love the site and love the giveaways I offer, support the site. If no one buys anything, I get no money. And no money means I can’t pay the bills. And that means, no more Palm Discovery. It’s that simple. The same can be applied for software, especially Palm software. Forget Microsoft. They’ve got tons of cash, but the little Palm programmers aren’t made of money. Pirating their software is like stealing from them and slapping them in the face. Very insulting. Sorry to make it sound harsh but it’s it is just like slapping the developers in the face after stealing their software.

What I am trying to do in this posting is give people at least a better idea of the impact of their actions. Most of us in the Palm community know that the Palm OS pool of software is dwindling. A lot of it is due to the lack of development on Palm’s side (ie. no new devices in years), lack of software support again from Palm, and I’m sure, a lot of it is due to piracy.

If you are frustrated about the hoops you have to go through to “activate” or register a program (ie. long serial combination numbers, activation via email, internet, etc), crippled trial versions, etc, then, think about why it is the case. Rather than scream and blame it on the developers, think about why there are these “hoops”. It is most likely due to piracy. Again, piracy affect everyone, regardless of whether you care or not.

Ponder over your actions

Do you want your favorite software programmer to stop developing new software? Do you want your favorite software programmer to go out of business and stop selling software completely? Do you want your favorite program to not support the newest Palm device? Do you want the price of the software to go up (due to piracy)?

If your answer is NO, I hope that you will consider supporting the software programmers and BUY THE SOFTWARE. Although I can understand part of the reasoning that many trial periods are too short (eg. 7 days) and nag screens (they annoy me a lot) and using the illegal copy will circumvent that restriction so that you can truly try it out longer, please purchase the software if you do find that it is very useful and you do use it a lot. This lets the programmer know that he’s got something right there. And by purchasing it, think of it as giving a compliment to the developer and thanking him for his effort and time. It’s not too late to go out and pay for the software, even if you are currently using it for free. As long as you do decide to pay for your copy, you are at least doing what’s “right”.

Increasing the price won’t stop piracy but encourage it

After all that I’ve written about this topic, I know that piracy will continue. I think that a lot of times that piracy is appealing when the program is much more than most people are willing or can afford to pay. I personally find that my comfort limit for software is around $20. If something costs more, I have to think a while about how likely I am willing to make the purchase and how often I will use it. This is when the trial period becomes very important for me. I have personally bought many programs that cost much more the $20 only to find that I hardly use it or that things change. With that idea in mind, I personally think that it is wrong to increase the price of the software to thwart piracy. What that only does is encourage people to seek out the illegal copies. If Microsoft only brought down the price of Windows to something reasonable, I doubt that many people will still use illegal copies. I think that a better solution to persuade people to BUY software is to make the price more reasonable or even lower it. And to make it so that consumers can purchase them via PayPal instead of Palmgear or Handango so that the developers keep most of the money (and they obviously deserve it). Most of us (I hope) don’t enjoy stealing or doing things illegally and if the choice to “do the right thing” is there and appealing, we will do the right thing and buy it.

Provide Incentives to encourage buying

I think that Astraware has a very good idea going. They have their own website where you can purchase the software and you get “points” for every purchase you make. So, the more you “buy”, the more points you get that you can later use for discounts, etc. This is probably the best idea I’ve come across that encourages people to buy from them directly so that the money stays with them. And they offer discounts every month that sometimes are more than 70% off the regular price! Of course, you can still buy Astraware games at Palmgear but why would you if you can get the benefits from getting it directly? And, with Astraware, a lot of these discounts can’t be beat anywhere else. If you’re a developer, you may want to consider this as (at least for me) you can persuade or convince a potential customer to purchase the software by a low, discounted price that can’t be beat anywhere else.

Along those lines of encouraging the buying is to provide more of a reason to get the software from the developer’s website. If I were a developer, I would add special features or skins or extra stuff that you can’t get anywhere else, and ONLY IF YOU BUY DIRECTLY. This benefits both the developer AND the consumer and encourages a much healthier relationship. Don’t treat your loyal customers like pirates, encourage them to support you in such a way that they WANT to do it. Think about it. How likely would you get a repeat customer if you treat them badly by making it hard to activate, register your software? Even if you are the only game in town, how hard would it be to persuade them to find an illegal copy? Keep your customers happy so they’ll come back.

Aside from providing discounts, also reward your repeat customers by offering discounts on the remaining product or software in your line up. A lot of times, I find that bundles may offer significant discounts for a bundle of software but many of us may not be able to afford shelling out $50 or more for a bundle for a one time deal. To persuade repeat customers, I think that providing a discount for repeat customers could be a great idea. This way, this can persuade paying customers to buy the software directly from you if they can get a significant discount that they can’t get anywhere else. And since they’re purchasing directly, there’s no middleman and more of the proceeds will go back to the development.

Or, another other way to discourage piracy is to only provide a crippled trial software that only does limited tasks and features and the only way to get the full version is to pay. There are only a limited number of software that I know that does that and I believe this (obviously infuriates the pirates) WORKS. It doesn’t completely stop the piracy but does obviously lower it. It would be very sad if most software programmers resort to this (and I’m sure they don’t want to) but if that’s what it takes, I can understand and will support this.

Owning a PDA doesn’t entitle you to all available software and accessories

Just because you paid several hundred dollars to get your PDA device DOESN’T MEAN THAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO ALL AVAILABLE SOFTWARE AND ACCESSORIES FOR FREE. If you can afford (or not afford) the PDA device, then you can afford (or not) the software that you want. The PDA comes with its own software that should work very well right out of the box. Getting the third party software isn’t free since Palm didn’t pay for the licensing to distribute it. Again, it is stealing if you didn’t get consent from the owner to use a software. The silly argument that ‘I already paid $$$ for this so I shouldn’t have to pay more for the software’ doesn’t wash. If you bought a brand new car, are you entitled to all the available accessories as well? If you can’t afford it, don’t get the PDA in the first place. It’s that simple.

Thanks for visiting Palm Discovery and reading this lengthy (surprise, surprise) editorial. Hopefully I have given some ideas and thoughts for you to ponder over.

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