Hello! I can write articles for you. Check out a sample article written by me last night: Software Piracy on the Internet Software piracy is one of most common problems affecting the software Industry. Not only does it lead to losses worth billions of dollars, it also affects the reputation of companies and degrades the quality of software. Software piracy affects the developers behind software directly and thus leads to lower quality software. Software piracy is a very serious problem that needs to tackled both by using strong measures and by improving general awareness in the users. Digital piracy is not just restricted to software. It also affects the movie and music industry. The Internet has made it possible to easily distribute movie and music files. Peer to peer clients and file sharing networks are mainly used by many to download files illegally. While it may seem harmless, downloading movies and mp3 files has a deep impact on the economy of the entertainment industry. In legal terms, Software piracy refers to illegal and unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted software and software license keys. Software is a valuable intellectual property which involves lots of time and effort to create. Many computer users are aware that using pirated software is illegal and causes losses to the software companies. However, they show complete disregard when it comes to actually buying a legal copy of the software. Studies conducted by anti-piracy groups indicate that more than 30 percent of the software installed on computers is pirated i.e. without a legal license key. This amounts to more than $48 billion in losses per year as of the year 2008. Software piracy is more prominent in developing countries due to lax law enforcement and lack of general awareness in the users. There are different types of software piracy. These are listed below: # Softlifting: Softlifting refers to using a single software license on installations on multiple computers. In simple words, sharing your license key with others constitutes softlifting. Most software developers have implemented online or telephone activation to bypass softlifting. For example, you have to activate your copy of Windows before you can use it. Online activation mechanisms have been successful to some extent in countering softlifting. # Software counterfeiting: Software counterfeiting refers to illegal duplication and selling as if legitimate. Counterfeiters create duplicates of CDs or DVDs and sell them in boxes and covers that look very similar to the original packaging. CD/DVD printers may also be employed to make them look genuine. They may also make use of keygen programs i.e. programs that generate working license keys and provide them with the software. # OEM unbundling: OEM software is specifically designed for original equipment manufacturers. OEM unbundling refers to copying and distributing of these software. OEM software doesn’t generally need online/telephone activation. This makes it easier to copy and distribute OEM software easily. Many online software vendors sell OEM software at discounted prices. These may come with genuine license keys. However, their legality is questionable as this may still violate the licensing agreement with the original developers of the software. Most software pirates make use of the Internet to distribute pirated software. In the early years of the Internet, pirated software was usually distributed through hacked FTP accounts or those that were public or poorly protected. However, these days bandwidth is very cheap. So file sharing sites like Rapidshare, Megaupload and many others are commonly employed to distribute files. Peer to peer networks like bittorrent are also commonly used to spread files. There is nothing illegal with peer to peer networks. In fact, peer to peer networks were created to distribute open source software like Linux ISO images. P2p networks are extremely fast and do not need dedicated bandwidth as they do not make use of a central server. However, most files shared using p2p networks these days are illegal warez, mp3 music files and movie rips. Using p2p networks to download copyrighted files is illegal in many countries and may draw legal/criminal penalties. Software developers and vendors employ a number of methods to control software piracy. Software development is a very costly process involving lots of money, time and effort. Software piracy affects software companies’ revenues at the expense of loyal paying customers. Most software companies protect their software through licensing keys and online/telephone activation. They also encrypt software to some extent to prevent crackers from easily reverse engineering the code. Software companies often resort to legal action against software piracy offenders. It is very easy to protect yourself from software piracy–always use legal software or use free open source versions of the software. Here are some common tips to stay safe from piracy: # Always buy software from reputed sources: Buy software directly from the website of the software company or other vendors like Amazon.com or Download.com. Research well and read user reviews before buying from other less known sites. # Avoid downloading software from p2p networks and file sharing websites: Downloading copyrighted material from p2p networks and file sharing networks is illegal. Your Internet service provider (ISP) may object and cancel your account if you are found downloading files illegally. Anti-piracy groups may also track the files you are downloading and seek legal action against you. The best practice is to buy software legally from proper vendors or resellers. # Avoid software promoted through spam: Many unscrupulous software sellers use e-mail spam to advertise and sell pirated software. Avoid such websites. Many of these sites may sell fake license keys i.e. those generated with keygen programs or OEM versions which may not be always legal. If you are unable to afford paid software, use free open source versions or clones. There are many high quality open source software that are equally good as the paid ones. One of the most well known such software is OpenOffice. OpenOffice is a perfect MS Office replacement/alternative. Another such software is GIMP, which is a good alternative to photoshop. To download open source software for windows visit www.opensourcewindows.com. Price: $10/1000 words. Through paypal. I am looking for long term projects. I can also write medical related articles. Thank you.