Why are companies so concerned with software piracy? What is software piracy?

Software piracy can be defined as many things, but as a rule it is considered theft of intellectual property. The software companies put out their product, and expect to make a profit off of it. Essentially, software piracy is shoplifting, just as if you had gone into a local store and taken merchandise off the shelf without paying for it.

It can sometimes be easy to overlook software piracy because often it is not a tangible thing. Downloading software from the internet never really touches our hand, and it's over in a few short minutes. Shoplifting, on the other hand, is a little riskier if only because you need to be there in person.

Not all software piracy is premeditated, however. Many people don't actually know they are picking up pirated software. It may come pre-installed on a computer system they purchased, or be labeled as "freeware" when it really isn't. How can you tell if your software is pirated? Microsoft has a few pointers in their piracy section (http://www.microsoft.com/piracy).