Pirated Software Issue

I've been meaning to write this. It's another topic on morality.
The use of pirated softwares for users, especially designers.

For me, using pirated software is the same as taking something without permission also as known as stealing. Dear designers and illustrators, it is wrong to make money using pirated software. I purposely emphasize on the making money part, although it is almost the same for any pirated softwares user. It is almost the same concept of stealing. So, for Muslim, you can't use money from stealing - basic concept.

When I was a student, I bought Adobe Creative Suite CS3 for students. If you are a student, you can apply for student edition, it is just for RM 400, you can get Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and Indesign. Almost 80% off for students. You need to be a student, send in your student ID copy, transcript and proof of enrolment. There are some basic rules in buying this product, for example the basic student licensees said:

• It must be used on private computers.
• The software cannot be transferred or sold.
• Students can only buy one copy.
• The software can be used after you graduate.
• The software can be used commercially - images can be sold by student before or after the student graduate but with limited usage.

If you are a student, you should buy student edition from Mac City or Sapura Marketing. If you are a professional freelancer, you should pay for the lisence. You can refer the pricing here. Roughly around RM 2600 for Photoshop CS6 - online price. 

I know it is quite pricy, but it goes to your moral beliefs later on.

If you still need to use these softwares for free, you can use the open source software :

Open source photo editor softwares :

GIMP - for Mac & Windows

GimpShop - for Mac & Windows , mirror image of Photoshop

Paint.net - for Windows

Open source vector graphic editor :

Inkscape - for Mac & Windows

DrawPlus - only for Windows

Xara Xtreme - only for Linux

Skencil - only for Linux

PS : I am still using my CS3 version at my Mac at home to improve my skills. I also use GIMP and CS6 at the lab while working. The thing about using open-source softwares is you need to make an extra effort to learn it. Be ready to ask Google a lot and have extra patients in learning it. 

You can refer a list of tutorials for GIMP, here.

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