Another goofy radio spot

"If your company copies software illegally, your company is breaking the law!"

Well, yeah. That's what "illegal" means, after all.

I actually first took note of this commercial because of a separate claim. The announcer says something like "Remember, stealing software only raises prices for everyone else!"

Now, I do not advocate stealing software. I've used the trial versions of some Adobe programs and though an acquaintance offered a program that would falsify a purchase keycode I declined the offer. That said, it simply isn't true that stealing software only raises prices for everyone else. As a matter of fact, software-stealing companies can make use of that old slogan I remember seeing in an old issue of National Lampoon: "We cheat the other guy--and pass the savings on to you!"

Stealing software lowers company overhead, so the savings can easily pass on to customers, and the savings probably do pass on to other customers as part of the competitive pricing process.

Stealing the software is still wrong, but the rationale offered in the radio spot is specious.