Use of cracked programs

[LiviuM]

Dear faros3000,

I'm happy to see a reply from you. I guess I wished to say many things in a single huge post.
I will explain the things you quoted in short for now, maybe later I will explain more.
"- rivals use cracked software and I end up with a high design price (which by the way could be possibly cheaper than the rich country design price)"
It actually happens if I add the price, I have to give money from my pocket to design something.
This is not a debate please have a look here at prices for design here:

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Now imagine Tekla+Autocad+Analysis software= 22000+4000+4000=30000$ one computer, one license, one employ.
If one with cracked has a price of 3$/sqm I can come up with 3.1$/sqm. I keep the client because I provide more quality and 3 vs 3.1 is not a big difference. If I come up with 4$/sqm, I'm dead.
So 0.1$/sqm..0.5$/sqm for one computer, one license, how many sqm I have to design to buy one license per 2-3 years? (the thing with new version each year)

" - clients don't afford a design done with an expensive software."
Some projects are big other are small, for a house 200sqm, one simply can't add the software price. The house has a price of 50000$..70000$ and the design price is like 500$..1000$ and it includes 1..4 weeks design work, drawings, site visit ... Can I come with 2000$ or 5000$ design price? Obviously no. The client can't afford the 10..20% increase because of structural design only. If we add the architectural, plumbing, design cost....

This sentence, you got it wrong, maybe it's my English or personal humor:

Obviously I have to use the latest cracked version or else I loose because the rivals use it, funny you know, the each year new version.

I explained that I have to use the latest cracked version in order to stay on the market. Not that I have to use the cracked version. I'm always given the choice.
Like you have to buy the latest version of licensed Midas to compete with other users of licensed Midas. I have to seek the latest cracked Midas to compete with other users of cracked Midas . The same competition between rival companies but at a different level.

Regarding one of the issues explained by me in my simple example is like this:
A company in India was providing offshoring / outsourcing services for modeling/drafting with pirated Tekla software. To whom? To big players in the rich countries, those were it's clients and that's one of the reason Tekla got so involved and so the piracy successful story.
Tekla has in models information if the model was done with cracked version.

I deal with big clients from rich countries and they don't care if the offshore designer uses pirated software or not, as long as the price is low. Very few actually do or give the ilussion they do.
Many in the current society trend say big is good. (big money, big company, big car, big family, big house, big building whatever but as big as it can get). And like the designer who seeks profits, client, project manager, software developer seeks too, no matter what. The result is a constant decrease in quality the shoe story, the offshore story, the money story.

The effect of outsourcing / off shoring, the global market spoiling:

Any company based in Australia, Japan, the US or Europe are having difficulty competing with overseas companies that abuse copyright. As previously mentioned in Part 1, no western company can afford to run the risk of any copyright abuse. The number of drafting companies are declining, job prices are being further reduced and delivery dates are shrinking. The typical work that Australian drafting companies are now receiving are those which are considered too complicated for the overseas companies, but that doesn’t stop a client from receiving an overseas quote to reduce the job price.

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In the above article the author makes some false assumptions like:

The ‘cost’ of ignoring copyright law in these countries is too small compared to the profit a company can make. Particularly when you consider that legal software licenses in these countries are significantly cheaper than the price in their Western countries.

The cost in USA for Autocad is in $ while in Europe is in euro, the same product, the same number, different currency. Although I can buy Autocad license in any country I'm not allowed by license agreement to use it in a different country. No matter where my company headquarters are.
And from personal experience big players like Arup get huge discounts for software, while their design product quality ain't that great. Me the small player have to buy the same software license for double the price.

Anyway this is the big fish-tank in which we swim together designers, clients, developers, all shaping the market and way of life.

The greedy thing, 5 cents, is funny.

Best wishes