Posted on Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Thirty-five percent of the packaged software installed on PCs worldwide in 2005 was pirated, the same percentage as in 2004, according to a study released Tuesday by the Business Software Alliance (BSA). Global losses from software piracy, however, rose by $1.6 billion, to $34 billion, according to BSA, a trade group focused on fighting the unauthorized use of software.
Some economists have questioned the loss estimates in the annual study, prepared by IDC. The loss estimates reflect the total price users would have paid for legitimate versions of the pirated software, but in some cases, users may have decided not to use the software if they would have had to pay for it, Robert Holleyman, BSA’s president and chief executive officer, said recently. Holleyman applauded progress by some countries, but said “much more needs to be done.”
