The computer industry's estimate that it loses millions of dollars

Question

Which of the following best completes the passage below?

The computer industry's estimate that it loses millions of dollars when users illegally copy programs without paying for them is greatly exaggerated. Most of the illegal copying is done by people with no serious interest in the programs. Thus, the loss to the industry is much smaller than estimated because______________.

(A) many users who illegally copy programs never find any use for them 
(B) most people who illegally copy programs would not purchase them even if purchasing them were the only way to obtain them
(C) even if the computer industry received all the revenue it claims to be losing, it would still be experiencing financial difficulties 
(D) the total market value of all illegal copies is low in comparison to the total revenue of the computer industry 
(E) the number of programs that are frequently copied illegally is low in comparison to the number of programs available for sale

LogicGuru1 · Accepted Answer

THE CORRECT ANSWER IS B

Imagine a physically handicapped person who cannot drive . Lets say he cannot drive a bike because he has no arms (hands).
One day while cleaning his house he finds a brand new, expensive, sports helmet for a racing bike.

IS THE HELMET ANY GOOD FOR HIM? NO IT IS NOT. 
DID HE PAID MONEY TO BUY IT. NO HE JUST FOUND IT (FREE). MAY BE EARLIER TENANT FORGET IT IN THE HOUSE.

WOULD HE EVER BUY THE HELMET HIMSELF... NO.. ITS A WASTE OF MONEY. HE CANNOT DRIVE A BIKE BECAUSE HE HAS NO HANDS. SO WHY WOULD HE WASTE MONEY ON A HELMET.

SO ESSENTIALLY HE WILL HAVE THE HELMET STORED SOMEWHERE IN HIS CUPBOARD.

Similarly:- Imagine a person named "Shady Luke" who doesn't know how to use software "XYZ". But he downloads a pirated version of a software XYZ . He downloads it because he can. Because it's free. But is the pirated software any use to him. Absolutely not !! He does not know how to use XYZ. So just like the helmet , the sofware XYZ will get stored somewhere in his computer hard drive. It will never be used.

NOW THINK :- If piracy is banned what will happen. It would become impossible possible to download pirated software. 
Now will "Shady Luke" buy software XYZ. NO. Why would he ? 
He don't use it at all. Why would he waste money on something that is of no use to him.

SO the software industry claim that they are losing millions because of piracy is not valid.

THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY SAYS :- "LETS US PUT AND END TO PIRACY".

What will happen. Most of the free loaders who just download the software for fun will not be able to download the software. 
In any case the sale will not increase.
Hence No increase in revenue for the software industry.

WHAT OPTION MATCHES OUR PRE-THINKING ?
 
B)  Most of the illegally copied programs would not be purchased even if purchasing them were the only way to obtain them

mysterio · Answer

The computer industry's estimate that it loses millions of dollars when users illegally copy programs without paying for them is greatly exaggerated. Most of the illegal copying is done by people with no serious interest in the programs. Thus, the loss to the industry is much smaller than estimated because

A.many users who illegally copy programs never find any use for them  even if users doesn't use copied program, that doesn't rule out the possibility of lost revenue due to copying of program.

B.most of the illegally copied programs would not be purchased even if purchasing them were the only way to obtain them  this options ends the alternate possibility that user might have bought the software program if he/she hasn't copied it. IMO Correct answer

C.even if the computer industry received all the revenue it claims to be losing, it would still be experiencing financial difficulties :  stimulus talk about missing revenue because of illegal copying of program, it has nothing to do with situation after regaining this missing revenue

D.the total market value of all illegal copies is low in comparison to the total revenue of the computer industry  out of scope ... argument is concerned with estimated loss of revenue due to copying, it has nothing to do with its relative amt wrt total revenue

E.the number of programs that are frequently copied illegally is low in comparison to the number of programs available for sale  out of scope

DanaJ · Answer

The part I edited out "points a finger" at B. If I really need some sort of computer software that I can't get without paying, then I'll surely pay for it. If I'm only marginally interested in it, then I might just ignore it.

Arguments for eliminating the rest:

A. doesn't matter if they do or do not use them, the idea is that piracy is still there

C. financial difficulties are not relevant here; the fact that piracy means losses is

D. while that may be true, but, again, the companies would still experience losses

E. similar to E

rojans · Answer

author fail to mentioned THE so called O.A.----B
I have seen this in my old LSAT tests. B is superior than A ,Because we need to justify that piracy actually cause little bit of harm.........If one don't buy ,If there is no piracy then this is true that companies are exaggerating their financial loses by piracy .

gautammalik · Answer

This is "explain the argument question"
Let's do it by POE - 
(A) - The word "never", makes this option too extreme. Incorrect.
(B) - Nothing wrong in it. Let's hold on to it.
(C) - This answer choice talks about "financial difficulties" of computer industry and does not explain why the losses claimed are exaggerated. Incorrect.
(D) - This answer option compares "the total market value of all illegal copies" to " the total revenue of the computer industry" and does not explain why the losses claimed are exaggerated. Incorrect.
(E) - This answer option compares "the number of programs that are frequently copied illegally is low" to " the number of programs available for sale" and does not explain why the losses claimed are exaggerated. Incorrect.

(B) wins by POE.

GMATPill · Answer

Regarding (A) vs (B):

So the claim/argument is that computer industry is losing lots of $$$$.

Then the author judges that claim/argument with his conclusion:

"Thus, the loss to the industry is much smaller than estimated because...."

Well, the reason must be because there is no IMPACT or CHANGE IN $$$$$ as a result of this illegal copying.

We are looking for an answer choice that mentions $$$, or sales, or purchases.

(A) does not mention money or sales or purchases - "many users who illegally copy programs never find any use for them" --- simply "never find use" is not good enough.

We need something that directly connects illegal copying to money or sales.

In (B): "most of the illegally copied programs would not be purchased even if purchasing them were the only way to obtain them"---- we finally mention that most of illegal copying has no impact on PURCHASES--that's what we want.

So the difference between (A) and (B) is that (A) does not connect it to money or sales, while (B) does.

more: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-t ... stion/2977

zoezhuyan · Answer

Hi experts,

I have a question about the argument,

the argument states those illegal copying people are not serious in the programs.
even though they are not interested in the program, it doesn't imply or indicate they won't buy, it's not the necessary reason I think.

please help clarify

thanks a lot
have a nice day
>_~

abhimahna · Answer

Notice that we have to strengthen the claim that the reasoning given is exaggerated. Only B does that. B clearly says that they are not going to purchase these products.

Also, none of the answer choices strengthen the argument but B.

Wajeeh · Answer

Actually there's a mistake in writing choice (B) , since the sentence should be written in the passive voice"most of the illegally copied programs would not be purchased " ,that mistake really changed the meaning

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Posted from my mobile device

Anupama_1090 · Answer

Please edit the question correctly.. the answer choice B in question states this "B) most people who illegally copy programs would not purchase them even if purchasing them were the only way to obtain them"
whereas the replies and explainations to the question by the people who have commented has the option B as 
"B.most of the illegally copied programs would not be purchased even if purchasing them were the only way to obtain them".
There is a lot of difference in the two sentences.

swikrityC · Answer

KarishmaB   GMATNinja

I picked answer choice D here because if you see in the conclusion - Thus, the loss to the industry is much smaller than estimated.. 
which means, that the profit of the computer industry is more and choice D exactly states that because the total revenue of the computer industry is more..

whereas, in option B -  most people who illegally copy programs would not purchase them even if purchasing them were the only way to obtain them   
these people are not even part of the stats that make the computer industry profitable..so, this category of people, doesn't affect the profitable revenue of the industry at all because they anyway wouldn't have purchased...
Where am I going wrong here?

KarishmaB · Answer

Premise:

Most illegal copying is done by people with no serious interest in the program.

Conclusion : Loss to the industry is much smaller than millions of dollars (the estimate is greatly exaggerated)

We are looking for a premises that will support the conclusion. The premise that most illegal copying is done by people who are not seriously interested in the program doesn't tell us why the estimate is exaggerated. We need some more support for the argument to make some kind of sense.

(A) many users who illegally copy programs never find any use for them

Irrelevant. We are discussing the sales figures, the revenue the industry loses. Whether people use the program after downloading is irrelevant.

(B) most people who illegally copy programs would not purchase them even if purchasing them were the only way to obtain them

Correct. It says that most people who illegally copy programs would not purchase it if they could not illegally obtain them. So it is not a revenue LOST. They represent a revenue that the industry never had to begin with. Hence the LOSS is not of millions of dollars. 
Take some numbers. Say there are 100 people in a country and company X sells a program 'Mega' for $1. 
Now 20 people are interested in buying it so X gets a revenue of $20. 
The other 80 don't have any serious interest in it so they will not buy it. They don't really need the program. But 5 of them illegally copy it out of curiosity and then let it sit on their device. Can X claim that it lost $5? Well, no. These 5 people would not have bought the program if it were not freely available. They didn't have any serious interest in it. So they were never the potential clients of X. So we cannot say that X lost $5.

(C) even if the computer industry received all the revenue it claims to be losing, it would still be experiencing financial difficulties

Irrelevant. Our argument focusses on the revenue lost. Whether it would help them stay afloat is irrelevant.

(D) the total market value of all illegal copies is low in comparison to the total revenue of the computer industry

Again, this is irrelevant. The argument talks about the industry losing millions of dollars. What fraction of their revenue that is doesn't matter. The industry could be making millions or billions in total revenue - the argument doesn't change. The point is whether it is losing millions in illegal copying. Does it matter whether it is 1% of their total revenue or 20%?

(E) the number of programs that are frequently copied illegally is low in comparison to the number of programs available for sale

Same option as option (D). We are talking about number of illegal copies compared with number of copies sold. How is it relevant to our argument. Again, our point is whether the industry is losing millions in illegal copying or not. What fraction of actual units sold it is has no relevance.

Answer (B)

VerbalBot · Answer

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The computer industry's estimate that it loses millions of dollars

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The computer industry's estimate that it loses millions of dollars

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