Pirated Software usage

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1
Hi,

I'm hoping to visit Switzerland for my internship.

In my country all most all the people are using pirated copies of windows, office and etc. So I'm wondering whether it is similar in Switzerland as well. Will I end up in jail if i bring my laptop as it is

P.S. I'll be staying in Lausanne.

2
Yes it's illegal and highly enforced.

3
You obviously feel uncomfortable with stolen software on your machine. You also have the wherewithal to study in Switzerland, so why not pay the people who wrote the software that makes your life so much easier??

4
They won't check. You can have thousands of dollars worth of pirated/stolen software installed without any issue, but put your laptop in a fake LV case and you'll be stopped on the spot.

5
its illegal but wouldnt say its enforced at all.

Kani: no one is going to look through your software or laptop etc looking for dodgy software - and there is no way to tell anyway.

6
Thanks for that now he will thing it's "ok" and acceptable...

have you ever heard of the truth not to be told?

7
Bottom line - stop being a leech and pay the people who wrote the software you're using.

8
It seems there is no much difference in Switzerland as well :P

You scared the hell out of me Mr.CorsebouTheReturn.

Any way I can find genuine copies of windows and office. The only problem is with MATLAB.

9
That's exactly why I did said "it's illegal and highly enforced", because in 2 posts you can recognize that the OP is a arrogant prick who doesn't care of anything else but himself.

PS: for your information I was not trying to "scare the hell out of you" but to

make you think. Quite epic fail!

10
It's very unlikely you'll end up in jail, however I hope you'll put your record straight once you have the financial means to do so, or at least consider using freeware alternatives wherever you can.

And to all the rest of you - there are countries very very nearby, where the cost of licenses of Windows+Office alone is equivalent to several months worth of food for the people living there. It's not hard to understand that most will choose to spend the limited funds to satisfy primary needs instead of buying software.

Then again, they all HAVE TO know the software to be able to compete in the modern job market. Some universities offer licenses for free Windows or Office packages, but this is still insufficient to meet the demand.

11
There are weekly public floggings and humiliations in the stocks for all pirate software users in Switzerland, especially in Alpine regions. Frequent calls of "you Microsoft profit slayer, you ...", "take this Windows ME CD box you delinquent .." can be heard echoing in the valleys just after dawn.

Moreover, Apple users can go straight to the front of long queues of shoppers in both Migros and Coop as they are nationally accepted as being superior beings, safe in the knowledge that their software purchases allows them to install across multiple platforms.

12
They then compete with people who try to earn a living wage in a "mature economy" whil being told how folks in Bangalore, to name just one place, have a competitive advantage

13
Oh.... Mr.CorsebouTheReturn, I was just kidding. No hard feelings. k

Anyway thank you all for the info.

14
Oh I am about to cry!?? (of sadness?)

There is an alternative open source to everything-

Windows? Linux

Office? Open office

Outlook? Thunderbird

Matlab? Octave, Scilab, etc..

And even, universities have libraries and computer facilities!!!

So you started good but unfortunately you wrote false information, justifying that "poor victim" (who is actually a thief, arrogant pr1ck and have no care/respect for the developers he steals from).

15
Myy philosophy is: "if you can afford it buy it, if not crack it."

There is no way I can afford the complete CS-suite but I need it, ergo!

16
Octave or SciLab are good alternatives. The problem is not the number crunching core (maybe slower than Matlab, equivalant to R13 ,newer Matlab releases have really improved regarding multi threading) but the toolboxes. But any CS or EE major will/should learn the theory of it anyway and should be able to reprogram them for personal use.

Alternative for Office: LibreOffice

Alternative for Windows: Linux

Honestly, there is no need to copy commercial software as there are a) alternatives b) pretty good student discounts for those software products. Additionally, Windows comes with nearly any new laptop computer.

Photoshop -> GIMP

Illustrator -> Inkscape

InDesign -> LaTeX, Scribus

etc, etc.

Let me guess your reaction: Two cumbersome, too error prone, too weird, to faulty, too strange, too unsaleable, too feature less?

Let me tell this: Take up a loan and buy the CS suite if you really need it, it will pay off on its own.

17
Sorry, but no.

Good luck job hunting with documented profficient skills in Linux, Emacs and graphic design with GIMP.

There are very good reasons why the big name software is THE industry standard, while freeware isn't.

Clearly you have no first hand experience in what you're talking about.

Libraries and computer facilities in poor countries - right ... they are already running Linux with freeware or in a best case outdated versions of licensed software. 21st century design in Autocad R11 anyone? Good luck!

You're most likely also missing the point, that private illegal use of most software such as Matlab, Solidworks etc. only means that there will be more demand for it in the industry, where piracy is outlawed.

18
For the majority of commercial software there are now freeware alternatives, so while a case can be made that it is needed there is an alternative to pirated software.

19
There was a news report about this last week, outcome is that software piracy has no or little effect on software sales as the people who use copies wouldnt buy the product anyway.

i dont go with the arguement the money goes to the developers, it would go to the profit margins of MS , apple etc.

if companies reduced the costs of the software to realistic levels, people wouldnt use copies.

some examples i looked for recently

ms office 385chf rrp

swiss topograph maps for GPS 400chf

W7 200chf rrp

i can easily see why people would raher spend 10 mins to download the software instead. The gps and office software cost is a disgrace

20
Just make sure not to bring a fake Rolex or fake Omega, otherwise no one here will be able to foresee the kind of trouble you're gonna be in. This would really be the hidden button you don't want to press on the Swiss customs.