When Zhang, a graduate student at Beijing University, decided to upgrade his computer to the Chinese version of Microsoft Windows XP, he knew exactly what to do. A quick search on Google turned up a couple of open-access FTP servers right in Beijing, one in China’s top science school, Tsinghua University, and the other in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Fifteen minutes later, his new operating system was locked and loaded, with a copy of Macromedia’s Flash MX thrown in for good measure. Total transaction cost: $0.
The Internet has become the most common vehicle for software piracy in China, but Zhang”who asked not to be identified by his full name”had other options, too. Any number of friends working in state-run organizations and private firms would have gladly lent him a licensed version long enough to burn a copy. Or he could have taken his computer to one of Beijing’s dozens of electronics bazaars for a low-cost upgrade. Failing that, itinerant peddlers on Zhongguan Cun Road, in the heart of the capital’s “Silicon Alley,” sell pilfered copies of Windows XP”and a dozen other popular software titles”for about 2 percent of the sticker price of a couple of thousand yuan (US $240).
