Microsoft's history with piracy goes way, way back- all the way back to the original microcomputers. Unless you provide some disincentives, that's exactly what people will do- they'll pay nothing for your software. The digital nature of software makes it both easy and impersonal for people to avoid paying (note that I did not say 'steal'), which is an irresistible combination for many. Unless you oppose the very concept of commercial software, there has to be some kind of enforcement in place. Microsoft recently stated that the piracy rate of Vista is half that of XP, largely due to improvements in their Windows Genuine Advantage program- Microsoft's global registration key validation service.Īs a software developer, I can empathize with Microsoft to a degree. You could, in fact, argue that registration key validation actually works. I don't have a problem with registration keys. I'll choose biased data over no data whatsoever, every time. The BSA estimated 35% of all software was pirated in 2006, but it is just that- an estimate. But it is data, and without the registration key concept (and pervasive internet connectivity), we'd have no data whatsoever to quantify how much piracy actually exists. The vendor is never named, and given that the title of the URL is /software-piracy.htm, I'd expect it to be biased. I have no idea how reliable this data is. Occasional internet connection necessary 60 : 1 How effective is it? One vendor implemented code to detect false registration keys and phone home with some basic information such as the IP address when these false keys are entered. Like all piracy solutions- short of completely server hosted applications and games, where piracy means you'd have to host your own rogue server- it's an incomplete client-side solution. Unique registration keys exist only to prevent piracy. Software is digital through and through, and yet there's one unavoidable aspect of software installation that remains thoroughly analog: entering the registration key.

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