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If you use commercial software without paying for it - this is called stealing. There is no point in justifying the practice. The simple answer is if you can not afford it then don't use it. When it comes to software there are a number of free or very cheap alternatives for probably all high priced commercial applications. As for lowering the price of software - you have to consider the "price elasticity" of the item. In simple terms: as the price decreases the number of items sold should increase and conversely as the price increases the number of items sold should decrease. Plotting the number of items sold vs price you can deduct the optimal point (the highest income = price * number of items sold). We can assume that MS and other major software companies have done that and have derived the sweet spot - so to speak. Piracy - everyone does it at some stage - but please don't try to justify it.