According to the Business Software Alliance, every year, software piracy accounts for more than $12.8 billion in lost revenues. In the United States alone, the alliance estimates that 27 percent of business software used is pirated. Software piracy has always been a controversial issue in today's high-tech society. As the number of computer users increases, the number of cases of software piracy rises with it as well. The software industry claims that software piracy has cost them billions of dollars each year. And thus should be stopped at all costs. However, that was just a one-sided figure estimated by the industry. In this essay, it will be shown that the software industry over-exaggerating this figure, and in fact, software piracy helps the software industry in several ways. The essay will justify, the usefulness of piracy through examples and reasoning.
             An interesting issue and reason software piracy are on the rise are due to the increasingly high price of software and the speed which software becomes obsolete. Let's take drafting. A program like AutoCAD as an example. Due to its inflated price only, people with a good-paying job still can't afford it. Yet, students studying drafting (an American subject) in school need it. Some teachers require it from their students while others only recommend it, but due to its high price, students with bills can't pay to afford it, even with student discounts offered by the company. The software is still expensive, and also if the student found the money to purchase the software, in another month or so, the software will be replaced by a newer and better version. It will, in turn, make the old software obsolete. The only other option is for the student to pirate a copy of the software. This way, the student will be kept current with the new software. This just does not apply to just drafting programs. A lot of other programs are being required or requested by, teachers for students to use...