The problem is that it will never be enough. Even if Microsoft gave you everything to you exact specification and only charged $20/license, there would still be a group of people trying to defend piracy.
Just look at the Android/Iphone app market. 99 cent apps are still not convenient or cheap enough for many users, so they pirate it.
This is why I feel that all of these excuses are bullshit.
> there would still be a group of people trying to defend piracy.
Of course, just as you'll always find DRM apologists who find Ubisoft's insanity still isn't enough. That's not really a segment of the population worth discussing with though, since they won't buy either way (either because they don't want to, or because they just don't have the money, I was once that impoverished student).
What you can rely on are numbers and the results of those who thought convenience was a major reason[0] for piracy and tried to fix it. And what do you find out? That Steam and iTunes turn out to make money. Who'd have thought?
> This is why I feel that all of these excuses are bullshit.
Oh, bad apples are sufficient to dismiss out of hand anything that comes even remotely close to something they could say?
Well I guess you can trivially be dismissed as well, then.
[0] preempting your strawman, I did not write "the only reason".
Eh, it will never be enough for 100% of the users, sure -- there will always be some percentage of pure leeches. But this guy seems pretty reasonable. Enough for him seems like a good threshold for generating revenue from your userbase.
Just look at the Android/Iphone app market. 99 cent apps are still not convenient or cheap enough for many users, so they pirate it.
This is why I feel that all of these excuses are bullshit.