Software "piracy" got its start when PC software was in its infancy.

Companies found that much PC software was very expensive but didn't work as advertised. Then the vendors refused to take responsibility for the bugs, or took years to fix them. So by taking copies of software, companies could try out software for free until they found something that worked. Since the standard software license basically absolved the PC software company from all responsibility to provide a working program, companies felt no compunction to actually pay for crap, since they wouldn't even get their money back.

Re: BSA raises reward to $1 million for reports of piracy.

A lot of companies, knowing about the situation, allowed their software to be copied. Microsoft used this trend during the 90's to kill their competition. By winking at people copying their own software, and by then offering free assistance to anybody regardless of what the status of the software was, they put their competitors under.

Now that the situation has improved, old habits die hard. I wonder -- of all of those vendors complaining about piracy, how many of them still won't refund the buyer's money if the software fails to perform?

(A notable exception right from the beginning was Lotus, whose fine 1-2-3 product was the fuel that sparked the PC explosion. It was also impossible to copy easily, as it had sophisticated anti-copying algorithms built in. I know, I tried copying it once, and it promptly erased my PC-AT's PC-DOS.)