BSA Piracy Study Deeply Flawed 437
zbik writes "Corante reports that The Economist has blown the lid off the BSA's recent report on software piracy (covered by Slashdot), referring to their methods as 'BS'.
'They dubiously presume that each piece of software pirated equals a direct loss of revenue to software firms.' The BSA has complained that the article is offensive but does not dispute their analysis. Score one for common sense."
Of course their methods are BS (Score:2, Funny)
OTHER HEADLINES TODAY (Score:5, Funny)
Your Rights Online: Osama Bin Laden Not a Nice Man
Your Rights Online: Some Politicians May Be Influenced By Money
Boy Scouts of America? (Score:2, Funny)
But I thought "trustworthy" was one of the parts of the scout law! Was I mistaken? Is there some sort of mix-up here?
I'm so disillusioned just now...
Re:OTHER HEADLINES TODAY (Score:5, Funny)
If you've managed to find some that aren't yet, quick - post their names here. There's bound to be a few lobbyists willing to try their luck in virgin territory.
Why does The Economist hate America? (Score:2, Funny)
indeed bs (Score:2, Funny)
BSA Acronym (Score:2, Funny)
BSA = 'BS' Analysis ?
Re:BSA PSed off (Score:5, Funny)
The 'BS' in the headline was simply referring to your initials...
No harm done.
The use of the word 'Madam' in our letter, on the other hand, is deliberate.
Sincerely,
The Economist
Re:BSA PSed off (Score:3, Funny)
You're right, to propose that they inflate the rate of piracy and its impact to suit political aims is rediculous. We do it to increase profits!
Re:Why does The Economist hate America? (Score:4, Funny)
No no! The pirates are really a front for terrorists. For every pirated copy of Office/Windows/etc, Osama Bin Laden gets $10.
Yeah, *RIGHT* (Score:2, Funny)
Re:OTHER HEADLINES TODAY (Score:5, Funny)
On second thought, forget about the political party and the blackjack!
A funny scene just came to mind (Score:4, Funny)
Gollum Not fair! It isn't fair, my precious, is it, to ask us what it's got in its nassty little PeeCeessssssesss?
Bilbo What have I got in my pocket?
Gollum Sssssss. It must give us three guesseses, my preciouss-three guesseses.
Bilbo Very well! Guess away!
Gollum Photoshop!
Bilbo Wrong! Guess again!
Gollum Sssssss. Autocad!
Bilbo Wrong! Last guess!
Gollum Sssssss
Bilbo Time's up!
Gollum DOOMIII!-or nothing!
BilboBoth wrong!
Re:OTHER HEADLINES TODAY (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Does not dispute?!? (Score:1, Funny)
Look, I came here for a good argument.
http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/sn-python.ht
Re:BSA PSed off (Score:5, Funny)
> >
> > Beth Scott
> > Business Software Alliance
> > London
>
> Dear Madam:
>
> The 'BS' in the headline was simply referring to your initials...
> No harm done.
> The use of the word 'Madam' in our letter, on the other hand, is deliberate.
>
>Sincerely,
> The Economist
Dear Economist:
Your reply to my earlier letter was extreme, misleading and irresponsible ("Madam", June 14th). The deliberate choice of the word "Madam" was particularly offensive. The implication that an industry would purposely inflate the rate of piracy and its impact to suit its political aims is ridiculous. Whether you refer to unpaid sex acts as "open source", "trying it before you buy", or "blocking the auto-updating daemon with a heavy-ass firewall" the threats posed by individuals slutting around, living together, and the signing of marriage contracts are real and need no exaggeration!
Beth S., Madam
Bunnyranch Sex-worker's Alliance
Nevada
Some piracy can lead to direct sales (Score:4, Funny)
One day I was in a computer store near NASA looking for a software package, but they were all sold out. When I asked why, the salesman said that every time any of the local NASA contractors had a software audit, everyone would rush out to buy legal copies of everything on their machines.
Bullshit? (Score:3, Funny)
Somebody alert Penn and Teller!
Re:Why does The Economist hate America? (Score:4, Funny)
Going to prison for downloading Britney Spears? You make it sound as if that's a bad thing...
BSA COSTING LINUS BILLIONS OF DOLLARS! (Score:5, Funny)
Their bogus numbers have caused people to be frightened away from Linux, which Linus *could* potentially be selling for $1000. The fact that he is making *no money* from each copy of Linux used is due to the fact that the BSA has damaged the perception of Linux so much. As a product technically superior to Windows, it should have taken over by now. That's $1000 per person. There are ~300 million people in the United States, counting every man, woman, and child. (We all know that GNOME is simple enough for a baby to use, so counting babies is perfectly legitimate.) Since Linux is upgraded so frequently, people would buy a new copy about annually.
As you can see, since the BSA is COSTING LINUS TORVALDS OVER $300 BILLION DOLLARS IN THE UNITED STATES THIS YEAR ALONE, we desperately need laws to protect the starving open source software authors that are being victimized by the criminal activity of the BSA. It is crucial that we receive laws to protect these authors -- all companies choosing a non-open-source software product over an open-source software product should be required to annually submit a report with cost estimates and associated usability/compatibility testing as to why they choose not to use open source software.
No, it's just not the same. We need whatever PR people the BSA has.
Re:Why does The Economist hate America? (Score:3, Funny)
Shit! Add that to all the money Osama is getting from all the weed I buy [mpp.org] and I can understand why the gov cant find him in Iraq.
He's proably got enough cash to buy his own pocket Universe.
Re:Boy Scouts of Hong Kong... (Score:3, Funny)
I hope your fallout shelter is really deep.
OTOH, maybe we have (briefly) a wonderful new energy source...
Re:Of course their methods are BS (Score:5, Funny)
And the rebuttal [economist.com] they sent was signed by a Beth Scott. It's BS all the way...
Re:And so is their letter to the Economist (Score:4, Funny)
Re:OTHER HEADLINES TODAY (Score:2, Funny)
Wisconsin. Close enough
He is actually one of the *very* few members of Congress who wouldn't be a better person with a bullet hole where his face used to be.
Re:OTHER HEADLINES TODAY (Score:3, Funny)