Valued MemberLiving in the biggest country in the Middle East (Egypt) definitely differs from living in US or any other European countries in almost all aspects. We have different traditions, customs, behaviours and actions. One of the biggest challenges to any Egyptian is to try to live the American/European life here.
I grew up loving everything that involves technology; gadgets, smartphones, computers, cameras, cars, etc.. My family provided me with a considerably good environment to exploit my fondness of technology in all its different aspects but the main challenge remaining is how to deal with other people around considering what you are up to.
For many people here, I'm described and named by different names. Some of which are "Crazy person, money waster, too shallow guy, etc.." Honestly I don't bother myself with what the people are telling about me because I believe that what I am doing is the right thing to do. Here comes the story.
Egypt is the largest Arab country in the world (Population right now is around 95 million) and its also the largest in the Middle East. One thing you may haven't noticed is that Egypt also is the largest country in terms of "Software piracy" in the Middle East at least.
The notion of buying a software product (whether it is a game, a theme, a community software, songs, movies, apps etc..) is refused and denied by the majority of computer and internet users in Egypt. What can be quite shocking as well is that the "official" government institutions promote software piracy (They use pirated windows copies, pirated Microsoft office packages and many other pirated software copies) We also got physical stores that sell pirated games and programs under the legalisation of the government.
I always knew and believed that this is considered as pure theft. The fact that the software is available for digital download doesn't mean its necessarily free but for the most of Egyptians it is. Any software, song, movie, game in the Egyptian ideology of internet is free. They don't care how many hours developers spent developing these software products, they don't care that these developers make a living from what they are developing and they definitely don't care about whether your software is protected or not, we will definitely get a pirated copy of it sooner or later.
I always go legit although I totally know that the government is not going even to warn me if I went to a store and picked dozen pirated software products or games. I buy android and ios apps, I always buy my games either via steam or origin and I even get my songs through itunes. I can't imagine myself just claiming the efforts and the work of other people for my usage because they offer their product online and they ask you to buy it to support them. I never bothered myself to even download pirated software for test purposes because there are demos, trials and betas.
One last important thing to tell is that it doesn't have anything to do with your wealth or income. Personally I know people who are far richer than me and still they don't spend a penny on paid software products. It is just a matter of awareness that is completely absent and I don't blame the people because the officials - who are supposed to spread the awareness and promote legit software - are actually using pirated software themselves! This is why they call me the names I mentioned above....
I grew up loving everything that involves technology; gadgets, smartphones, computers, cameras, cars, etc.. My family provided me with a considerably good environment to exploit my fondness of technology in all its different aspects but the main challenge remaining is how to deal with other people around considering what you are up to.
For many people here, I'm described and named by different names. Some of which are "Crazy person, money waster, too shallow guy, etc.." Honestly I don't bother myself with what the people are telling about me because I believe that what I am doing is the right thing to do. Here comes the story.
Egypt is the largest Arab country in the world (Population right now is around 95 million) and its also the largest in the Middle East. One thing you may haven't noticed is that Egypt also is the largest country in terms of "Software piracy" in the Middle East at least.
The notion of buying a software product (whether it is a game, a theme, a community software, songs, movies, apps etc..) is refused and denied by the majority of computer and internet users in Egypt. What can be quite shocking as well is that the "official" government institutions promote software piracy (They use pirated windows copies, pirated Microsoft office packages and many other pirated software copies) We also got physical stores that sell pirated games and programs under the legalisation of the government.
I always knew and believed that this is considered as pure theft. The fact that the software is available for digital download doesn't mean its necessarily free but for the most of Egyptians it is. Any software, song, movie, game in the Egyptian ideology of internet is free. They don't care how many hours developers spent developing these software products, they don't care that these developers make a living from what they are developing and they definitely don't care about whether your software is protected or not, we will definitely get a pirated copy of it sooner or later.
I always go legit although I totally know that the government is not going even to warn me if I went to a store and picked dozen pirated software products or games. I buy android and ios apps, I always buy my games either via steam or origin and I even get my songs through itunes. I can't imagine myself just claiming the efforts and the work of other people for my usage because they offer their product online and they ask you to buy it to support them. I never bothered myself to even download pirated software for test purposes because there are demos, trials and betas.
One last important thing to tell is that it doesn't have anything to do with your wealth or income. Personally I know people who are far richer than me and still they don't spend a penny on paid software products. It is just a matter of awareness that is completely absent and I don't blame the people because the officials - who are supposed to spread the awareness and promote legit software - are actually using pirated software themselves! This is why they call me the names I mentioned above....
Elite Member
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