Education vs Copyright
Hong Kong was one of the delegates at the meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organisation held in September. As Hong Kong has been for a long time a haven of fake products, this was a good opportunity to show the world Hong Kong’s efforts in guarding intellectual property rights. I understand the importance of copyrights. Nobody wants to see their brain-child used by others without authorization, especially those who earn a living by their intellectual products. However, my studies in computer operations would be greatly hindered without pirated products. I was so lucky to have a personal computer when I was 17. My first set of software were all illegal copies. Thus, I could learn the operation of Microsoft Windows 3.1, MS Word, MS Excel, dBase III, Lotus and Word Perfect that I am now using to type this letter. So far, most of the software I am using is still pirated. The legal copies cost more than HK$20,000, a price I cannot afford. How would it be if there were no piracy software installers? Software production is a very profitable business. The giant Microsoft had a profit of over US$900 billion last year. Are the prices of useful computer software too high for educational purpose? Providing educational versions of software at an affordable price may be a solution. Name withheld by request |
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October, 1997
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