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Here in Philippines, and in other countries, too, software piracy is common, and sometimes, too common. In areas of the most software piracy, is a territory of people that don’t know how to write (program) computer software. Software piracy can also be a way to cover up the country’s intellectual defect of “creativity.” Creativity? Yes, Creativity! Creativity uses extra parts of the brain, while burning more calories, the healthy way. Writing computer software is like healthy exercise for the human brain, while pirating computer software is like eating a bag of sugar-coated doughnuts while sitting on the couch, watching television.
Why do people choose to steal other people’s work and then, complain how much they hate it? Why don’t those same people learn to write computer software? My theory is, mathematic majors should be able to write computer software, while mathematic minors can get additional education so they can be able to write computer software, too.
Writing computer software is easy to do. It usually starts off by a simple “Hello World” program. Just like the old children’s story about the train that could (keep going), a new programmer should also keep going. Though it may be several weeks, to several months until you’ll be able to write a program with a good graphical interface, just never quit. To me, a person that quits, is a loser. I’ll admit, writing software from scratch is a rough road. I’ve spent 18 months, one time, writing a single program that works only in DOS, though the first working version of the program was out in a month.
So, why does software piracy continue to exist when there are countermeasures in place? Because lazy computer geeks continue to support software piracy by choosing not to make computer software of their own.
As I looked through the pirated software bundles offered for sale in Manila, I’ve noticed there are no programs made from Filipinos in the Philippines. There are not any Tagalog language learning software, not even in places that are frequented by tourists from other countries. The programs pirated are usually from Microsoft and Adobe, and sell very cheap. Also found are various commercial software, both obsolete and cracked trials editions exist. Even commercial software to develop new software, is available for sale. But, nobody had thought about getting the software developers to develop software that would be better than their pirated counterparts.
There are many Open Source programs available! Mozilla Firefox is an Open Source program. That means, anyone can get the source code for Mozilla Firefox and create their own version of Firefox. So far, to date, there has not been a Filipino version of Firefox created. A talented Filipino could create a version of Firefox best suited for today’s Filipino, but none has come forth.
Instead, talented Filipinos spend their time in either, pirating software and/or writing computer viruses, and/or, just playing computer games. Then unmentioned are those that use computers at their office or school, and has no say about what software is to be installed.
When I visit a local shopping mall, such as SM Megamall, I’ll stop by an internet rental store and count how many people are playing fancy RPG games. (RPG = Role Playing Games) Why count those people? Because most (like 95%) of them are capable of writing very good computer software. And most (like 75%) of those, could team up and write better software than what is being pirated. It doesn’t matter if they are unemployed and/or are students. There is no excuse for not writing computer software. Being lazy or stubborn is no excuse for not programming. If a person can play a fancy, RPG computer game, then that person can write computer software.
Also, I looked into today’s latest computer viruses, usually found in currently pirated software. The viruses, when disassembled, reveals very clever software programming. I often wonder why these programmers don’t just write commercial software. I think that these virus making talents can be converted into top paying software programmers.
To those that don’t realize it, yet. computer virus makers distribute their latest computer viruses via pirated software. Why? Because their virus is too new to be recognized by any current virus database, so they have, at least three months of virus destruction fun. If they were to quit writing viruses, and start writing good computer software, they can collect residual income for up to 10 years of their software release.
But, instead, software piracy is an admission of “being lazy.” Lazy at what? Lazy at programming. That is why software piracy is the death of programmers.
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филипинос