A question I seriously ponder quite constantly… why would someone prefer to use pirated copy of softwares instead of using free open source alternatives?

Most of the people I know back home in Brazil have a hacked copy of Windows. Why use it if you won’t pay for it?

I see people all excited about getting their hacked Photoshop just to use it to crop images, resize them, or at most do some basic image editing. Why use it if you would never dream of paying for it?

I switched from Windows to Linux after I changed desktops and couldn’t carry the OS to my new machine. A bit before that, I started using a lot of open source software and basically lost no productivity.

So, I keep wondering, why are people so hesitant to try free and open source software? Sure some proprietary software have more features and functions, but the vast majority (if not all) of the people I know do not use 10% of the resources available in these expensive products.

Open source software is basically free in cost, you can easily have more control on their development roadmap (giving your input, money, or coding skills) and you know it is safer for your machine. So, why not make the switch?