Original Software can be defined as a privately held company providing automatic software testing products and service (Wikipedia).
Examples of Original Software are Microsoft Office, Window Media Player, and Internet Explorer. In Malaysia, original software is not very popular among personal users. This is because we hardly get the original software for free and we need to pay for them. Personal users always download the pirated software from internet or get it from friends. Research shows that [ 25% of the Web sites we accessed are offering counterfeit product keys, pirate software, key generators or crack tools attempted to install either malicious or potentially unwanted software. ]1
However, business and company users prefer original software due to its effective and quality management of data. Besides that, original software has higher level of security compare to pirated software. Original Software can be also designed or modified according to company’s special needs.
Many of us may ask since we can get the same software for free, why must we purchase the original software? Since we are just personal users, why don’t we just download the pirated one? Actually, there are several benefits that we can gain from original software. First of all, unlike pirated software which can cause a lot of trouble to the users, original software offers a solution focused completely on the goal of effective quality management. For example, some computers may rebel towards pirated software and it results in the users’ files to be corrupted and so on.
Apart from that, Microsoft Original Software comes with the assurance that it will not inflicted by any virus. Also, original Microsoft Windows Vista comes in-built with a number of features that can prevent the misusing of internet. For example, parents can decide which website should be blocked from their children by just adjusting its setting. Besides that, restricted Internet Access Filters allow the user to specify the time and day that internet access is used. Another thing is that we should always remember, using pirated software is a kind of guilt and it is wrong from the aspect of moral and religion.
Licensed software
Have you ever come across advertisement which persuades users to buy certain software for certain functions such as Antivirus software? Or you have in some ways downloaded a software trial which is available only for a few days and required you to pay in order to continue using it? If your answer is yes, do you now own the software because you paid for it? The answer is simply a no.
As it is mentioned earlier on, original software is privately held by a company. In order words, the company owned the particular software. Even though we have paid for the software, we only paid for the right of using it but not owning it. The owner will still be holding the copyright. With this copyright, a software owner has the authority to legally sell, distribute, copy or change the content of the software. Hence, users need to comply with the terms and conditions in the licensing agreement, or EULA (End User Licensing Agreement) which they have agreed upon using the software. This agreement protects the original software owned personally by an individual or a company from being copied, sold or changed the original content of the software illegally. In short, certain rights towards manipulating the software are reserved by the software publisher for proprietary software, also called licensed software.
A dishonest act against the law of copyright in the world of software is known as piracy. This refers to the unauthorized duplication and use of the computer software (Webopedia, 2004). Software is considered as a kind of intellectual property and owners have the right to protect it from misusing. Thus, it is protected by copyright laws in most countries. How are software publishers going to prevent themselves from software piracy?
In fact, there is no way to completely prevent software piracy. It is an ever-present problem. The only way we can do is to minimize the occurrence of it. One of the ways to fight software piracy is to educate consumers by stating the negative effects of software piracy to the country and also globally. As software piracy brings a large impact to the software industry, it delays the on-going new development efforts and product improvements. As a result, it not only affects the industry financially but will also result in the short of technical experts. Besides that, we can also curb software piracy by implementing software protection schemes that increase software security.
Finally, users must always bear in mind that it is against the law to illegally obtain and use pirated software. Immoral users will end up in significant legal fines and consequences. Although pirated software is free, they often contain viruses, trojans and other kinds of malware which will attack the operating system and also cause files to be corrupted. This is because pirates habitually modify the files with malicious code. Hence, it is a reminder to all to stay away from pirated software.
In conclusion, the only difference between piracy and theft is the form of carrying out the crime. We should respect others' will of keeping the authority of distributing or altering the contents of the software to themselves. To all owners of software, always register yourself a copyright. This is because, registration of a copyright will allow you to track any damages when an intrusion occurs.
References:
Sep 1, 2010. Is Software Ownership the Same as Licensing? Retrieved on July 11, 2011 from http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2004/OwningSoftware.asp
(n.d.) Why You Should Copyright Your Software. Retrieved on July 11, 2011 from http://www.developer-resource.com/why-to-copyright-software.html
(n.d.) Software Piracy. Retrieved on July 11, 2011 from http://www.developer-resource.com/software-piracy.html
(n.d.) Preventing Software Piracy. Retrieved on July 11, 2011 from http:// www.developer-resource.com/preventing-software-piracy.html
Chong Xin Txin
Ting Suk Hua
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