Why Microsoft allows piracy?

Why Microsoft allow the piracy of Windows and other software? This is probably the most interesting and tricky question to answer. And so the article is going to be amazing too. Let's go deeper.

What is Piracy?

Piracy means using a paid software without paying for it. It can be simply stated as stealing digital goods. This stealing includes copying, distributing, modifying, or re-selling the software.

Before I start explaining the reasons behind Microsoft's strategy of allowing Piracy, we need to know that Microsoft does not accept piracy and it also does not even support it. The reasons are straight-forward. It damages the corporate profit. It also negatively impacts the reputation of the company because pirated products are not provided with official support from Microsoft. Still, what are those reasons for which Microsoft do not do anything against to stop piracy of its digital products.

The Reason

Microsoft knows that if people at home or students at schools learn to use Windows and MS Office, then they will want those pieces of software once they reach the job market. And if Microsoft demanded households to pay a lot of money for legal licenses, then there was a risk that households and schools might switch to Linux (which was free). And this might consequently result in companies and higher government offices switching away from Microsoft products to other freely available software. This is the end of this article. This might be because it's the biggest reason why Microsoft doesn't act against Piracy.

By allowing piracy on a small scale, Microsoft is raising a population dependent on MS products on a large scale.

Microsoft once gave a statement that people want to use and pirate software, we would prefer users pirating ours than alternatives.

The Future of Pirated Microsoft Products

Microsoft thought was that if the majority of users use its software, it helps with Microsoft's dominance in market share. However, the support for pirated software was never really there.

As of the future, when Microsoft products will be migrated to a cloud-based business model with monthly subscription-based service, it will get harder and more challenging to pirate products.

The End Notes

If you can pay for it, you must buy software instead of using pirated versions. Pirated software can usually harm your device with potential risk. Well, that's all in this article. I hope you liked it. Please share your views in the comment section below. Have a good one.

Cheers!