What does it look like in a world where "piracy" won? I'm generally curious, do you think all software will just be "free" or people will charge drastically less for their software?
You're looking at it. It's this world. Piracy of everything is rampant and getting more and more widely accepted. When I pay for software, I don't do it because it's illegal to pirate or out of some moral obligation, I do it because money have to change hands for the economy to function. If it costs too much for me, I try to get it on a sale, or just pirate. I sleep very well at night.
I would support a world where IP is free for non-commercial use (so cinemas and corporations must still pay for movies/software they use, but home viewers/users don't need to), as well as 14 year default copyright term (as most economic value seems to be generated by then).
People are already charging drastically less for their software. Upgrading to the next version of Windows will actually be free! How likely would that be ten years ago?
That's why everyone is busy writing SaaS apps instead; they're harder to pirate.
