The notice served by Adobe on the Indian Corporates that it
plans to organize a series of raids to prevent piracy of its software products
should open the eyes of the Indian public and particularly, the Corporate
managers of the risks in taking Cyber Laws too lightly.
Let us make no mistake, those who are ignoring Cyber Laws
by choice are endangering the survival of their organizations and the safety
of their own and their colleague's professional careers.
Today dependence of many companies on use of Computers is
total in the sense that it cannot conceive a situation where they can continue
to be in business if they have to abandon Computers.
Use of Computers also means use of some critical software
essential for its business. The Microsoft products such as Windows OS, the
Office suite, Oracle's data base product and Adobe's publishing and
Image editing tools are today critical software on which many businesses are
built. Such businesses cannot run without these software packages.
Considering the threat of action therefore, if Company's
have to desist from using these software packages, they may have to be
prepared for a severe down sizing of their business.
naavi.org has been advocating the need to be law abiding
Netizens and at the same time also trying to suggest viable means of reducing
the incidence of law violations by removing the causes of such violation if
any.
The issue of software piracy is also to be seen from the
point of view of "Unreasonable Pricing" and "Licensing Terms" of some of the
software manufacturers which indicate their greediness to exploit the markets.
Many of the US software manufacturers are also ignoring the economic
differential between India and US. While US $ 249 for Adobe Acrobat or US $
999 for the Design Collection may be economical for a country where the per
capita income is 10 times that of India, but it would be a harsh pricing for
India.
When a business entity or the individual feels that the
economic benefit that he is likely to make out of such investment is only a
fraction of what the software is capable of and the product is not available
in a "Basic Economy Module" he is forced to think of using an unlicensed
version of the software.
In case such companies come up with low end products with a
facility for modular upgradation of features, people would not mind using them
only as licensed versions.
On the other hand, the approach of the software
manufacturers has been to develop successive versions of software in such a
manner that the earlier version needs to be abandoned for "Incompatibility".
The latest trend spearheaded by Microsoft is to make it
legally mandatory to upgrade a legally purchased software to a new version
when introduced even if the user does not want the improved features. In
order to understand this concept it may be clarified that this policy means
that if you are using an official version Windows 98 and Microsoft introduces
Windows 2000, you have to stop using Windows 98 and upgrade it to Windows 2000
paying whatever upgradation charges that Microsoft may decide, even if you are
happy with Windows 98 for your limited use. Even though Microsoft may avoid
such confrontation with the public in respect of its OS systems, it intends to
make it applicable to application suites such as the Office products.
Any sociologist would vouch that such coercive business
policies can only be expected to generate disgust and hatred against all
software manufacturers and motivate anti-regulatory feelings and spreading non
cooperation and defiance. For some time, the vested interests can ensure
compliance of irrational and fraudulent policies against the majority
community through legislations such as DMCA.
But history, right from the French revolution and
before has taught us that control of the population through "Power" is
not going to be an effective strategy. Ultimately, it is the will of the
people, the voice of the majority that will prevail. In this context, the
software manufacturers of today have to keep in mind that unless, the pricing
of software products is brought down to reasonable levels, Piracy cannot be
eliminated. Any aggressive strategy to enforce anti-piracy measures will
increase the cost of computer usage and slow down the development of IT.
As for the users are concerned however, while they can
carry on the fight at the industry level against policies such as "Forced
Upgradation" of software, or "Redefining the Fair Use Concept of Copyright
in Education", they need to fall in line with the existing laws at present.
One of the ways by which they can reduce their "Software
License Risks" is to switch to "Open Source Software" wherever feasible. Even
if this means re-training of staff and little sacrifice on "Features" and
"Conveniences", it is a very very essential strategy which can make the
difference between survival and death for many businesses in the days to come.
Linux as an operating system alternative to Windows, and
Star Office as an alternative to MS Office should therefore be strategies to
be considered by all the Companies big or small. IT training establishments
should also start creating awareness about such Open Source software so that
the "Coercive Power" of software vendors is reduced without violating any law.
In this context, news about
the release of the first
major version of OpenOffice, a GNU/Linux office suite based on Sun’s
StarOffice, last week is to be welcomed by all. Companies and Government
departments should lose no time in testing this product and introduce them in
their systems to reduce the dependence of licensed office suites in their
respective establishments.
Naavi
June 13, 2002
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