In the past few weeks the topic of torrents has raised its head once more, its a subject that few people sit on the fence over, your either for or against them theres very little middle ground.
To many people the words torrent and piracy seem to equate to more or less the same thing, the fact that increasingly torrents are being used to distribute legitimate software, and by new musicians who recognise the opportunity this medium gives them to actually get their music out into the public domain without having to sell their soul to a record label, not to mention the free advertising the film industry gain from torrents doesn't seem to cut much ice with some people.
Undoubtedly the vast majority of torrents are not legit, not legit but not necessarily a bad thing or illegal in some cases in my opinion, take the music industry they complain of losing billions due to illegal downloads, for a start anyone who has ever downloaded a song via torrent knows that you never download a song, most files are either poor quality, corrupt or have malware in them, if you download ten one may be worth listening to, and as many of these files never get burnt to disc they are all too easily wiped of a hard drive and need to be downloaded again.
The music industry know the true amount they lose from pirated music is nowhere near the figures they claim. Another reason why the music industry is reluctant to act against people downloading music is simple they don't want to alienate their customers, they know all too well people who download music spend far more on music than those who don't, downloading an album doesn't stop you wanting to go out and buy the real thing. In the past buying an album has been a bit hit and miss, you hear one good song and you buy the album and it turns out that one track is the only one worth listening to, record companies and bands can no longer get away with it, people still buy CDs but now they buy the CDs that are worth buying.
If the music industry really want to stop people pirating their music the easiest way it could be achieved lays in their hands, stop ripping people off, in the last few decades it was normally the case a cd in Britain would cost twice or more what it would in America, and they in turn were paying twice if not more than people in the far east, how can they charge ten times the price in England to what you would pay in other markets, simple we have tolerated them doing it for that long they think they have the right, the balls in their court, lower prices to a reasonable level or people will continue to download.
The film industry is pretty much a mirror image of the music industry, the only differences are they inflate their supposed losses even more than that of the music, as even less of the movies that are downloaded are of watchable quality, and the prices of DVDs and Bluerays are nothing short of extortionate, again the balls in their court.
Software, or to be more precise Microsoftware (i've been saving this till last), buying a computer with a copy of windows is a bit like buying a television, and when you've paid them the money for it and try to walk out the store your surrounded by security trying to stop you leaving, the first question you should ask is why are people downloading copies of windows via p2p. Microsoft are perfectly happy to sell you a copy of windows and they are also happy to supply you with updates for that software, but if anything goes wrong with it they expect to to pay a technician an arm and a leg to fix it or buy a new copy. If Microsoft gave people a proper installation disc that by rights they should be entitled to, and in some countries are entitled to, people who need to reinstall their operating system wouldn't need to download that software that they own a licence for, it would also stop them downloading torrents they don't have a key for and don't have a legitimate right to own.
Say if you need to replace your hard drive which has a copy of windows vista basic, and you have no option but to acquire a copy off the internet, if you have to go to the trouble of downloading it why bother with basic when the same disc contains a copy of ultimate, and why bother with vista ultimate when the next torrent in the list is for an activated copy of windows7.
The truth is this problem is of Microsoft own making and it is within their powers to solve it, is it too much to ask that Microsoft respect the fact that if you buy something its yours, it belongs to you and you alone, it doesn't somehow still belong to Microsoft, one of these days they will learn, or they will see the torrent turn into a deluge.

Discuss

Nice book you wrote there:P

Personally I think the problem is mostly from the OEM computer builders as some of them provide restore disks with the real OS disk on them like Toshiba and dell (even some of HP's business line have them) vs builders that do not provide.

It really depends which copy of Windows you have. When you buy a retail copy Microsoft themselves are responsible for replacing your media even if you lose it or break it. The extra money you pay is insurance for replacing the media when you buy a retail copy. The oem system builder copies were designed for companies going after the lowest price and are handled by the system builders themselves. They usually provide a way to make restore disks but it would definately be to Microsoft's advantage if they provided a way for you to validate your oem provided install to get a hold of restore disks.

The other problem with those restores is pc companies are paid money to include software on your install, if they allow you to have a normal disk those software packages do not get installed and they have to charge more for your pc. Its a horse a peice really.

to be fair i dont think microsoft are that bothered, ive probably download 50 or more for various reasons and i didnt use them, but i have noticed it you put up a clean copy on a torrent site its taken down pretty damn quick, but there are torrents that have been up for years that are full malware, funny that microsoft never ask for them to be taken down.

To be honest I probably wouldn't care either. Let's say I was adobe, the moment someone puts up a clean copy of Photoshop id be all over them, but a virus-ed up one? who cares, just more reinforcement for them about how you should buy the legit software. They might not particularly like installing malware on potential customer's pc's but I cant deny the possibility that they leave them up as a skull on a pole style warning about the "Dangers of piracy" for anyone involved.

Also, MS Is way more concerned about businesses stealing windows licenses rather than individuals. They might come after you if you distribute but otherwise it seems pretty quiet.

You do you think?

I can understand them not wanting everyone to have a dopy os the os but unless they make it possible for people to get hold of discs they have a key for its never going to stop, one good thing you can say about microsoft never said their prices were a rip off.

The retail copies you can call them and they just supply you with a new disk. If you stick to retail Windows you will never have that problem. I do agree that it should be easier to get an oem replacement from them though.

I know you can get them from your manufacturer for 0-40$ but it would be awesome if you could just go to MS and pay a flat fee and get a disk. Sure it would be nice to be able to get them for free but I dont live in dreamland. 20$ + 4.95 shipping for a copy would probably solve a lot of problems before they became issues.

Originally Posted by popeye67

to be fair i dont think microsoft are that bothered, ive probably download 50 or more for various reasons and i didnt use them, but i have noticed it you put up a clean copy on a torrent site its taken down pretty damn quick, but there are torrents that have been up for years that are full malware, funny that microsoft never ask for them to be taken down.

I'd be inclined to disagree on this aspect.

Ive uploaded torrents that were very quickly taken down, but torrents with very similar names to the ones i posted started to appear, i didnt upload them and the size of the file was different, when i downloaded them they were full of malware, those torrents were available to download for years, considering the speed and efficiency they displayed getting mine took down and the inaction over the fake torrents it would lead me to think they were a little more pro active than just turning a blind eye to them, i consider myself a realist not a member of the tin foil hat brigade, but im sure there are those that disagree.

I can't really comment any further except to say that downloads that are evident at all times do not necessarily contain malware or virus'.

This has been under discussion with Popeye and myself over the past couple of years several times. I love movies, but I won't download pirated movies. I will wait for them to come out on my Netflix. Because for me personally it feels wrong. The part of Popeye's grievance that does hold water for me is I have laptop with a Vista OS. I own the key to that Vista OS. I paid good money for that. I was not supplied with a Vista OS or an install disc when I bought the laptop. Do I have a right to download from a torrent the Vista OS based on my already owning the Win Key so that I am not stuck without? It was hard for me to refute that kind of logic. Do I agree with just downloading anything from a torrent for my convenience, emphatically No! It is wrong because it just feels wrong for me. I know it is not going to feel wrong for everyone else. In life certain things have certain consequences. Sometimes they catch up with us, sometimes they don't. I have to live with myself. And when my conscience meter goes off. That is what I listen to. We each of a conscience meter. Just depends on where your's is set. We would debate the torrent, but wouldn't think twice about not returning extra change to a grocery store if we were over paid or saying something if the store didn't charge us enough.