I've been in China and know firsthand that almost no one buys software over there.

Of course, someday they will (hey, I pirated software when I was in high school. I no longer do).

On the other hand, these kinds of reports are simply paid for by the computer software industry, so they tend to skew things a bit. I doubt the software industry would sell all the copies they say we're stealing, even if it were impossible to copy them.

So, the industry is getting larger thanks to its easy-to-copy products. Did the car industry go from no cars to more than half of the population having cars in 25 years? I don't think so.

Microsoft and Adobe have definitely benefitted from gaining market share due to piracy. I remember pirating both company's software in the early 1990's. It got me addicted to both company's software and now I'm a legal owner of lots of both company's software. Is Photoshop really worth $500? Who's ripping off whom?

In China the average annual wage is about what a copy of Photoshop costs here. Is there any question why piracy is going on? The industry's products are overpriced. But companies can't lower their prices because they've grown too used to the high margins that they've been making.

So, we're all criminals. Pointing the fingers at each other.

Looks like we're going to get more product activation stuff. Didn't ya know? I'm a criminal and I must be stopped.