Paul, that's an interesting story but there's no factual basis for it. More than likely, Orbx is putting on a show. -Alex

Software piracy is stealing. Most people steal because they can't afford to buy legitimately or don't have access to the infrastructure needed to make the purchase (like credit cards for example). If you were poor in a poor country and you wanted something you knew you could never afford, and it was actually easier for you to steal it than to buy it, you'd steal it. This is why Microsoft charge much less for their products in China than they do in the West. Better some return than none and a huge market desperately looking for alternatives (like Linux). Per capita income in the Philippines is US$3,300 pa (CIA Factbook). Do you really expect people in this market to buy an add-on for Flight Simulator for US$33? That's 1% of of average annual income, if you are interested in the math.Then there is the morality issue. If you were poor and everyone you knew was poor, whose interests would you hold paramount? Yours or some faceless company in a country whose per capita income was ten times your own? This of course ignores the inequality that exists in the West; another source of piracy with the added advantage of wider access to technical knowledge and infrastructure. In summary, inequality is the major driver of software piracy and while it exists solutions will remain elusive. Beating your chest and penalising your legitimate customers is counterproductive.Noel.

Paul, that's an interesting story but there's no factual basis for it. More than likely, Orbx is putting on a show. -Alex

Whether that happened to OrbX or not, Alex - it's not a made-up scenario: ask the Banks, the CIA, Yahoo, and so on. It's not a story at all. On-going Vulnerability and Threat Assessment testing is parhaps the most essential and unforgiving component of IT. Penetration attempts happen every second of every day of every week of every year, and these incidents are growing exponentially. I cannot imagine the stakeholders of a growing, increasingly successful business doing this for the sake of "putting on a show".

Per capita income in the Philippines is US$3,300 pa (CIA Factbook). Do you really expect people in this market to buy an add-on for Flight Simulator for US$33? That's 1% of of average annual income, if you are interested in the math.

That's average income for a "developing" country of about 70 million people. Those in the Philippines that can afford a decent PC to run FSX could afford FTX if they were honest enough to purchase it.Surely most pirates just get it because its available, use it for a week or so and then move on to the next thing. I really don't think Orbx are losing a lot of sales. Those that can afford to support Orbx and pay for the product do so (like myself), 99% of pirates would never actually pay for the software anyway. IMHO Orbx just need to make it harder for the casual pirate to use their software (if that's possible) and restrict access to the FTX forums/support site to paying customers only.Also, I'm curious as to how Orbx know hundreds of pirates are installing their software every second as it says on their "Orbx is closed" banner. It seems rather exaggerated. Come on, that's 1,728,000 installs per day!

ORBX is one of the most amazing product line so far IMHO.Infact I wouldt go as far as saying the best!Updates, freestuff, outstanding grafics all over.Absolut favorit:) Go ORBX GO! :( Please keep up the excelent work.Pede Meyer

Just one question for those in the know. Are pirates really stealing there work at the rate of "hundreds per second"? That sounds incredible to me.

Software piracy is stealing. Most people steal because they can't afford to buy legitimately or don't have access to the infrastructure needed to make the purchase (like credit cards for example). If you were poor in a poor country and you wanted something you knew you could never afford, and it was actually easier for you to steal it than to buy it, you'd steal it. This is why Microsoft charge much less for their products in China than they do in the West. Better some return than none and a huge market desperately looking for alternatives (like Linux). Per capita income in the Philippines is US$3,300 pa (CIA Factbook). Do you really expect people in this market to buy an add-on for Flight Simulator for US$33? That's 1% of of average annual income, if you are interested in the math.Then there is the morality issue. If you were poor and everyone you knew was poor, whose interests would you hold paramount? Yours or some faceless company in a country whose per capita income was ten times your own? This of course ignores the inequality that exists in the West; another source of piracy with the added advantage of wider access to technical knowledge and infrastructure. In summary, inequality is the major driver of software piracy and while it exists solutions will remain elusive. Beating your chest and penalising your legitimate customers is counterproductive.Noel.

I love these piracy threads. Always nice to read the real reasons for piracy. I thought it was just people thinking they could get away with stealing something.

In summary, inequality is the major driver of software piracy and while it exists solutions will remain elusive. Beating your chest and penalising your legitimate customers is counterproductive.Noel.

Using your example of the poor and disenfranchised person who can't afford the $33 to buy the addon, how did they afford the computer powerful enough to run FSX?

Per capita income in the Philippines is US$3,300 pa (CIA Factbook).

And what does this have to do with FSX? Where is any evidence that poor 3-rd World countries account for significant percentage of pirated FSX stuff?. They may be buying counterfeit Gucci bags, Rolex watches and some DVDs but I highly doubt they care for FSX or narrowly tailored FSX addons.

I love these piracy threads. Always nice to read the real reasons for piracy. I thought it was just people thinking they could get away with stealing something.

The know they can get away with it. I have known only a couple of people who were habitual pirates. If the company closed down they could care less, neither of them actually ever used the products that they pirated.A rule of thumb, don't annoy the customer base you DO have by trying to get people who _will not pay_ to pay up. You can only lose.Steven.

If their idea of getting back at pirates is to lock out their legitimate customers, then they are very foolish indeed. Of course I'm very disappointed for them if their products have been ripped off by someone, like many, I think software pirates are scumbags, but what has that got to do with their legitimate customers? Why punish them?I'm willing to bet that people with pirated versions of software have never even been to the legitimae product's site - after all, why would they if they're not going to buy it? People with pirated versions probably got their software from some torrent site, somewhere like the old Pirate Bay.I don't personally have any Orbx software myself, and I sure as hell won't be buying any either if having a tantrum and locking out their paying customers is their idea of how to treat them.I certainly agree that attempts should be made to combat piracy, but how on earth can they regard doing this as one of those attempts?Al

I have a lot of their stuff and it is very good but Orbx have a history of this kind of reaction when things seem to be going pearshaped. They are also very sensitive to criticism. I hope Orbx survive because of what they have done for Australian scenery which has a lamentable depiction in the default FSX, but I fear they are sailing close to wind commercialy and may not. Also software piracy can be a convenient excuse when things are getting tough as you have to ask the question how many of the pirates would have bought the software if piracy wasn't an option? I suspect very few.Bruceb

EDIT: removed by meAl

I have all but one of their airports including the DVD SP3 and it's simply the best scenery that money can buy.It's so good that many customers pre-paid for the software. That says a lot about a developer.It's sad that there are people who will do whatever they have to, NOT to pay for software or music.If someone is caught stealing software or music they should be treated as criminals.In this case it puts small developers out of business. So please support these excellent developers.

Way back when I was a very young man ( I'm 72 no2) I was an inveterate hacker. If a new program came out, I would get it and crack it. Why? Because I wanted to see if I could. now, before some get their shorts in a bunch, I did NOT post my cracks anywhere. Most of the time the program was deleted as soon as it was cracked. Some I kept and some I paid for.The point - I would venture a guess that the LEAST important reason why people pirate programs is because they can not afford to buy them - that's a crock. It's cheaper to steal them. None of the flightsim developer titles have any sort of protection that's worth the effort to crack to a real hacker. They're into more sophisticated stuff. What we have today are mainly "script kiddies" who have discovered file sharing.Sadly, I doubt we will ever see the end of piracy.Just MHO,Vic

I had just bought Hervey Bay today when I logged at ORBX forums, damn shame what they did - software piracy is a fact of life, everybody I know has at a certain time got some stuff, but one thing is occasionally doing this, the other is doing it as a rule.And in this instance it went too far, it has become a competition who can upload faster, regardless of the consequences.ORBX is right in doing what they did, they have to find a way to protect their product, at least to make it harder to crack the CP.As for if they would buy a product - I am sure people download regardless of the asking price, those downloads are not lost sales, these people will not buy a product.