Software market
I propose to discuss the article on the economic review of the software market. I beg you to constructive criticism. By profession I am an economist, and I want to study this industry. I ask the community to correct the errors and discuss the findings.
The software market is currently the most rapidly developing. At the same time, it has a number of unique features. Firstly, it is highly heterogeneous. There is no single market for programs; there are several main markets in it:
server operating systems
All of these markets are not isolated, they are closely interrelated based on compatibility and user choice criteria.
Secondly, the economic aspects of the distribution of programs are greatly influenced by legal restrictions of a special kind - software licenses and related side effects - software piracy. Competition in this area is usually carried out, as well as by purely economic methods (price policy, market monopolization, takeover of partners of competitors, etc.) and legal (lawsuits, licensing policy, etc.).
The choice of a certain software by a consumer (user) is determined by many factors, among which we can conditionally distinguish the following groups:
The main feature of the software market is the problem of ensuring the compatibility of the software and hardware of the user. Practically, this is manifested in the following - the choice of a software set begins even when choosing the computer itself, its type and architecture. For example, if you select Apple PCs, you will also have to use the software of this company. Similarly, when choosing an operating system, the user predetermines the limitations of his choice in further ways. Such a hardware and software base is called a platform and can include both the computer architecture and all the software and hardware. Platforms vary by manufacturer, purpose, and other parameters. The most common platforms for today are:
open
Platform restrictions are the main mechanism of mutual influence of various software markets. Choosing the hardware configuration of the computer, the user limits his choice of software, choosing the OS - limits it even more.
This situation leads to the emergence of a special class of programs - emulators - a kind of "adapters" between the platforms. However, the use of emulators is associated with some technical difficulties, as well as additional costs of resources, which leads to their low distribution, and prevents the leveling of platform constraints.
')
Computer programs in the practice of world law are nominally governed by copyright. In our country, the main laws regulating this market are “On Copyright and Related Rights” and “On the Legal Protection of Computer Programs and Databases”. However, in practice, this area of ​​law is not very applicable to software products. Crucial importance acquired so-called software licenses, or licenses for software products. A software license is a public interconnection agreement, usually installing software means that the user consents to the terms of this agreement. As a rule, such an agreement contains the terms of distribution and registration of the software product, the choice of the applicable law, copyright protection, restrictions on the use of the product, the manufacturer’s refusal of any guarantees and other terms of use.
Built in the interests of large software companies, the legislation removes the distribution of computer programs from the sphere of commodity circulation. “The acquisition of a software product is the acquisition of a license to use it ... The product is provided for use (licensed) and not for sale .”
Software license - standardized sets of conditions that determine the powers to use a copy of the program offered to an indefinite circle of persons. Transactions related to the use of programs under standard licenses are in essence contracts of accession (Art. 428 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), since the user cannot change the conditions of such a license, or can either agree with its terms in general or refuse to commit deal. Also, since any applicant can purchase a software product on the proposed conditions (or a class of persons defined in the delivery terms, for example, educational institutions), standard licenses can be recognized as public contracts (Art. 426 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
Conventionally, the following types of licenses can be distinguished:
The mode of protection of programs under the so-called commercial licenses is unreasonably cruel, and this is not related to the price of the product. So a typical commercial license agreement has the following limitations:
The prohibition of any copying of the product, the transfer of the original for temporary use to another person, resale, and the like of property restrictions
The ban on the clarification of the principles of the programs, disassembling, identifying and correcting any, even obvious, errors in the program.
“You cannot copy a disk containing a computer program for personal use. Moreover, it is not allowed to even let a friend work with the program, such as, for example, with a book or video cassette. I note that books, CDs and video tapes are bought mainly by private individuals, but software is usually acquired by legal entities and entrepreneurs who use software for commercial purposes. This means that program producers, unlike book publishers and record companies, receive the greatest income not from individuals, but from commercial organizations, although it is allowed to freely dispose of books and audio recordings, while programs are prohibited. By the way, many software products are so popular precisely because they can be bought at “pirated” prices. In my opinion, if people could not use some illegally mined products, such as Microsoft Office or CorelDraw, then the latter would not be so widespread. Free advertising provided by pirates is much more effective than billboards and press reviews. Do not be pirates, the number of legally acquired copies would have dramatically reduced. It is possible that many would switch to free software like Linux. Therefore, "piracy" in a sense, is beneficial to large companies. By maintaining an absurd state of affairs with the protection of programs, they create fertile ground for the existence of pirates. Thus, corporations are engaged in unfair competition with those manufacturers who could take their place in the market. ”3
Among others that are common to any market, there are a number of specific methods on the software market by which manufacturing companies compete. As noted above, this specificity is due to the technical and legal features of this market.
The shadow market, to a certain extent, plays into the hands of manufacturers as a means of adapting an ordinary user to high prices for products. So a single-user license for Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition costs about seven and a half thousand rubles. Few users are able to pay for all the software they use at producer prices. It is the existence of a wide choice of programs at “pirated” prices that determines the popularity, in particular of Windows and Office programs. On the other hand, the main profits of software companies derive from the corporate market, where licensed software prevails, and piracy does not adversely affect their financial condition.
To attract customers, many firms invest in the field of free software. This acts on the user community as an effective advertisement. This is the case, for example, of IBM. This policy is especially effective in relation to equipment manufacturers.
To expand markets, companies often make deals with manufacturers of equipment and operating systems. Integration of products into complex platform solutions increases profits and the range of consumers.
Unfortunately, lawsuits regarding the legality of licensing or the use of someone else's code in a software product have become a specific and often used method of struggle recently.
Microsoft’s monopoly on the desktop operating system market is the most absolute and indisputable of all the high-tech monopolies. Worldwide, more than 93.8% of home and office workstations have installed one or another production system of this company. [http://www.atinternet-institute.com/fr-fr/equipement-internaute/systemes-d-exploitation-fevrier-2009/index-1-1-7-165.html]
Microsoft deserves special attention. It was founded in July 1975 by Bill Gates (Chairman of the Board of Directors) and Steve Ballmer (General Director). The headquarters is located in the city of Redmond (USA, piece. Washington). Today it employs more than 57 thousand employees worldwide. The company with a capitalization of 273.2 billion dollars has an annual turnover of 36.84 billion dollars. Microsoft's high point came in 1995 with the release of the Windows 95 operating system based on the MS-DOS system, made in 1981 by order of “Blue giant "IBM - today the main competitor of Microsoft in the field of IT. It was the first full-featured, user-friendly graphical system. The success of MS-DOS was justified precisely by targeting a wide range of users, low price and a contract with the main force in the PC world - the manufacturer of IBM computers.
Today, Microsoft is an absolute monopolist in the field of desktop operating systems and office applications, and also occupies a significant market share of server, mobile and other operating systems. The company actively promotes its business in related areas, and is also engaged in the production of computer equipment. The monopoly position of the corporation has both positive and negative sides. Consider the main consequences of the monopoly of Microsoft:
1.Vinogradov M. “Freedom of programs and responsibility of their producers” // MirPK. 2003. № 11
2. Belokrys A. “The courts are dragged down ...” // MirPK. 2004. No. 6, 7
3. Belokrys A. "Consumer attitude" // MirPK. 2004. â„– 2
4. Bogatyrev R. “The Mystery of the Golden Gate”. On the history of PC World and PC Magazine, freeware and shareware. // MirPK. 2005. № 3
5. Bogatyrev R. “IBM vs. Microsoft”. // MirPK. 2005. № 6
6. Bogatyrev R. “The Battle for Linux”. // MirPK. 2003. № 12, 2004 № 2, 4.
7.Gates B. “Road to the Future”. - M .: Russian Edition, 1996.
8.Gates B. “Business with the speed of thought”. M .: Eksmo-press. 2001.
9. RF Law “On Copyright and Related Rights” of July 9, 1993, No. 5351-1 (as amended by Federal Law of 07.19.95 No. 110-FZ)
10. The course “Fundamentals of Intellectual Property Law” of the Internet University of Information Technologies // www.intuit.ru
11.My house - the center of entertainment // Chip Russia. 2004. â„–7
12.Stallman R. M. “Speak,“ Intellectual Property ”? Seductive mirage. // www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml
13.Stallman, R.M., GNU and the Free Software Movement. // www.osp.ru/os/1999/03/09.htm
14.Stallman R. M. “Linux: the origins of a new programming philosophy” // www.osp.ru/pcworld/2001/01/062.htm
15. Subtleties of choice. Platforms // Chip Russia. 2005. â„–7
16.GNU General Public License. Version 2, June 1991
This work by Koroteev. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License .
The software market is currently the most rapidly developing. At the same time, it has a number of unique features. Firstly, it is highly heterogeneous. There is no single market for programs; there are several main markets in it:
server operating systems
- Server and network software
- operating systems for desktops
- security systems
- application software
- databases
- development tools
All of these markets are not isolated, they are closely interrelated based on compatibility and user choice criteria.
Secondly, the economic aspects of the distribution of programs are greatly influenced by legal restrictions of a special kind - software licenses and related side effects - software piracy. Competition in this area is usually carried out, as well as by purely economic methods (price policy, market monopolization, takeover of partners of competitors, etc.) and legal (lawsuits, licensing policy, etc.).
Factors affecting consumer choice
The choice of a certain software by a consumer (user) is determined by many factors, among which we can conditionally distinguish the following groups:
- technical - the tasks facing the consumer, the material and technical base of the user, the mutual compatibility of the programs used, platform limitations, other technical limitations.
- economic - the prevalence of software, availability (here you can also include its localization), price, manufacturer support, manufacturer's warranty.
- legal - type of license, choice of applicable law, license restrictions, program distribution method.
- others - the reputation of the software product and the manufacturer, the user's habits.
Technical features of the market
The main feature of the software market is the problem of ensuring the compatibility of the software and hardware of the user. Practically, this is manifested in the following - the choice of a software set begins even when choosing the computer itself, its type and architecture. For example, if you select Apple PCs, you will also have to use the software of this company. Similarly, when choosing an operating system, the user predetermines the limitations of his choice in further ways. Such a hardware and software base is called a platform and can include both the computer architecture and all the software and hardware. Platforms vary by manufacturer, purpose, and other parameters. The most common platforms for today are:
open
- This multi-purpose PC architectural standard (PC, personal computer) is the most common, on the basis of which all home and almost all professional computers are built. There are sub-platforms, mainly by the manufacturer of the central processor - Intel, AMD, IBM, VIA Epia, Motorolla, etc.
- various server platforms (Sun, IBM PS / 2, Linux clusters, Novell NetWare, PC, etc.) - as a rule, the hardware configuration and software set is centralized by one manufacturer.
- Apple Macintosh platform - includes a set of hardware components and an operating system. Initially proprietary, now increasingly approaching the PC.
- PDAs and communicators, mobile phones and smartphones - a combination of hardware and software of a particular device. Inside this class are distinguished, mainly by OS.
- other proprietary platforms
Platform restrictions are the main mechanism of mutual influence of various software markets. Choosing the hardware configuration of the computer, the user limits his choice of software, choosing the OS - limits it even more.
This situation leads to the emergence of a special class of programs - emulators - a kind of "adapters" between the platforms. However, the use of emulators is associated with some technical difficulties, as well as additional costs of resources, which leads to their low distribution, and prevents the leveling of platform constraints.
')
Legal aspects: software licensing
Computer programs in the practice of world law are nominally governed by copyright. In our country, the main laws regulating this market are “On Copyright and Related Rights” and “On the Legal Protection of Computer Programs and Databases”. However, in practice, this area of ​​law is not very applicable to software products. Crucial importance acquired so-called software licenses, or licenses for software products. A software license is a public interconnection agreement, usually installing software means that the user consents to the terms of this agreement. As a rule, such an agreement contains the terms of distribution and registration of the software product, the choice of the applicable law, copyright protection, restrictions on the use of the product, the manufacturer’s refusal of any guarantees and other terms of use.
Built in the interests of large software companies, the legislation removes the distribution of computer programs from the sphere of commodity circulation. “The acquisition of a software product is the acquisition of a license to use it ... The product is provided for use (licensed) and not for sale .”
Software license - standardized sets of conditions that determine the powers to use a copy of the program offered to an indefinite circle of persons. Transactions related to the use of programs under standard licenses are in essence contracts of accession (Art. 428 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), since the user cannot change the conditions of such a license, or can either agree with its terms in general or refuse to commit deal. Also, since any applicant can purchase a software product on the proposed conditions (or a class of persons defined in the delivery terms, for example, educational institutions), standard licenses can be recognized as public contracts (Art. 426 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
Conventionally, the following types of licenses can be distinguished:
- open (free) - do not limit the freedom of use, modification and distribution of the product. May impose restrictions on the commercial distribution of derivative products.
- for free use - the product is available for free use, either with possible financial assistance or mandatory registration. Restricts the user's rights to modify and use the product.
- for trial use - a limited in functionality or in time version of the program is provided free of charge. Full version is available after payment or registration.
- Commercial (paid) - available either only after payment, or a free demo version with remote key features or a preliminary beta version is available.
The mode of protection of programs under the so-called commercial licenses is unreasonably cruel, and this is not related to the price of the product. So a typical commercial license agreement has the following limitations:
The prohibition of any copying of the product, the transfer of the original for temporary use to another person, resale, and the like of property restrictions
The ban on the clarification of the principles of the programs, disassembling, identifying and correcting any, even obvious, errors in the program.
- The withdrawal of the transaction from the jurisdiction of commodity relations, in particular, the Law on Consumer Protection.
- Deprivation of the right to perform any actions related to the functioning of the program in accordance with its purpose. “This right is also made dependent on the will of the author, specified in the license agreement, as well as the rights of the owner of the copy of the program to correct obvious mistakes and make any changes to it, including“ carried out solely for the purpose of its operation on the technical means of the owner ”
- Withdrawal from manufacturers and distributors of any liability for the risk associated with the use of this product, as well as for harm caused directly or indirectly from the use of the program, including lost profits.
- The manufacturer’s refusal of any guarantees, including guarantees of the absence of errors, the compliance of the program with its intended purpose.
- The choice of the applicable law, that is, the indication by the legislation of which territory should be guided in solving controversial issues related to the use of this product. Needless to say, this issue is also not resolved in favor of the consumer.
“You cannot copy a disk containing a computer program for personal use. Moreover, it is not allowed to even let a friend work with the program, such as, for example, with a book or video cassette. I note that books, CDs and video tapes are bought mainly by private individuals, but software is usually acquired by legal entities and entrepreneurs who use software for commercial purposes. This means that program producers, unlike book publishers and record companies, receive the greatest income not from individuals, but from commercial organizations, although it is allowed to freely dispose of books and audio recordings, while programs are prohibited. By the way, many software products are so popular precisely because they can be bought at “pirated” prices. In my opinion, if people could not use some illegally mined products, such as Microsoft Office or CorelDraw, then the latter would not be so widespread. Free advertising provided by pirates is much more effective than billboards and press reviews. Do not be pirates, the number of legally acquired copies would have dramatically reduced. It is possible that many would switch to free software like Linux. Therefore, "piracy" in a sense, is beneficial to large companies. By maintaining an absurd state of affairs with the protection of programs, they create fertile ground for the existence of pirates. Thus, corporations are engaged in unfair competition with those manufacturers who could take their place in the market. ”3
Competition
Among others that are common to any market, there are a number of specific methods on the software market by which manufacturing companies compete. As noted above, this specificity is due to the technical and legal features of this market.
The shadow market, to a certain extent, plays into the hands of manufacturers as a means of adapting an ordinary user to high prices for products. So a single-user license for Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition costs about seven and a half thousand rubles. Few users are able to pay for all the software they use at producer prices. It is the existence of a wide choice of programs at “pirated” prices that determines the popularity, in particular of Windows and Office programs. On the other hand, the main profits of software companies derive from the corporate market, where licensed software prevails, and piracy does not adversely affect their financial condition.
To attract customers, many firms invest in the field of free software. This acts on the user community as an effective advertisement. This is the case, for example, of IBM. This policy is especially effective in relation to equipment manufacturers.
To expand markets, companies often make deals with manufacturers of equipment and operating systems. Integration of products into complex platform solutions increases profits and the range of consumers.
Unfortunately, lawsuits regarding the legality of licensing or the use of someone else's code in a software product have become a specific and often used method of struggle recently.
Microsoft monopoly: the pros and cons
Microsoft’s monopoly on the desktop operating system market is the most absolute and indisputable of all the high-tech monopolies. Worldwide, more than 93.8% of home and office workstations have installed one or another production system of this company. [http://www.atinternet-institute.com/fr-fr/equipement-internaute/systemes-d-exploitation-fevrier-2009/index-1-1-7-165.html]
Microsoft deserves special attention. It was founded in July 1975 by Bill Gates (Chairman of the Board of Directors) and Steve Ballmer (General Director). The headquarters is located in the city of Redmond (USA, piece. Washington). Today it employs more than 57 thousand employees worldwide. The company with a capitalization of 273.2 billion dollars has an annual turnover of 36.84 billion dollars. Microsoft's high point came in 1995 with the release of the Windows 95 operating system based on the MS-DOS system, made in 1981 by order of “Blue giant "IBM - today the main competitor of Microsoft in the field of IT. It was the first full-featured, user-friendly graphical system. The success of MS-DOS was justified precisely by targeting a wide range of users, low price and a contract with the main force in the PC world - the manufacturer of IBM computers.
Today, Microsoft is an absolute monopolist in the field of desktop operating systems and office applications, and also occupies a significant market share of server, mobile and other operating systems. The company actively promotes its business in related areas, and is also engaged in the production of computer equipment. The monopoly position of the corporation has both positive and negative sides. Consider the main consequences of the monopoly of Microsoft:
- Microsoft gets from its operations super profits that go to the development of the industry.
- The widespread use of the OS of one manufacturer inevitably leads to the unification of the PC standards used. This is facilitated by the marketing policy of Microsoft, which, however, does not ensure the survival of the highest quality standards.
- Active expansion of the company into related markets leads to the spread of computer standards, for example, in the field of household multimedia equipment (Home entertainment). An example of such universal standards is DVD, USB, W-LAN, HDTV, MPEG, Bluetooth, MP3.
- Activation of competing forces leads to an increase in the development of alternative directions. An example is Linux, which, thanks to the support of IBM, Novell, Sun, and other Microsoft competitors, has evolved from a server system for a narrow circle of professionals into a desktop product for the mass consumer over the past 10 years.
- The licensing policy of Microsoft and the aggressive promotion of closed non-free licenses leads to increased public interest in this issue and, in particular, to the movement for free software.
- Active use of price discrimination. For example, the Microsoft Xbox game console is sold in the US for $ 150, in Europe - for $ 250, and in Russia - for $ 350.
- The monopoly on the IT market and the seizure of new markets lead to the dictates of conditions and the imposition of profitable corporation computer standards.
- Microsoft is known for its aggressive management, intrusive advertising and not always fair methods of dealing with competitors. A well-known example is the case of Media Player, when the actions of a corporation saw obstruction of fair competition and were ordered to pay a large fine in court.
- The licensing policy of Microsoft actually proclaimed the standard of the computer field an unjustifiably brutal protection of proprietary rights to programs, the refusal of manufacturers of any guarantees and a regime of legal protection unfavorable to the user.
Literature
1.Vinogradov M. “Freedom of programs and responsibility of their producers” // MirPK. 2003. № 11
2. Belokrys A. “The courts are dragged down ...” // MirPK. 2004. No. 6, 7
3. Belokrys A. "Consumer attitude" // MirPK. 2004. â„– 2
4. Bogatyrev R. “The Mystery of the Golden Gate”. On the history of PC World and PC Magazine, freeware and shareware. // MirPK. 2005. № 3
5. Bogatyrev R. “IBM vs. Microsoft”. // MirPK. 2005. № 6
6. Bogatyrev R. “The Battle for Linux”. // MirPK. 2003. № 12, 2004 № 2, 4.
7.Gates B. “Road to the Future”. - M .: Russian Edition, 1996.
8.Gates B. “Business with the speed of thought”. M .: Eksmo-press. 2001.
9. RF Law “On Copyright and Related Rights” of July 9, 1993, No. 5351-1 (as amended by Federal Law of 07.19.95 No. 110-FZ)
10. The course “Fundamentals of Intellectual Property Law” of the Internet University of Information Technologies // www.intuit.ru
11.My house - the center of entertainment // Chip Russia. 2004. â„–7
12.Stallman R. M. “Speak,“ Intellectual Property ”? Seductive mirage. // www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml
13.Stallman, R.M., GNU and the Free Software Movement. // www.osp.ru/os/1999/03/09.htm
14.Stallman R. M. “Linux: the origins of a new programming philosophy” // www.osp.ru/pcworld/2001/01/062.htm
15. Subtleties of choice. Platforms // Chip Russia. 2005. â„–7
16.GNU General Public License. Version 2, June 1991
This work by Koroteev. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/56751/
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