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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Is it possible to buy cheap computer software (eg. photoshop, offic etc.) at electronic markets?
How much do such programs cost?
12 years 45 weeks ago in Web & Technology - Beijing
Just go in street places where they sell DVDs, you may find one store that also sells softwares.
I believer 10-15 yuan is the standard for fake products, but they usually work.
If you go to a market for electronics, they often sell on the Chinese version of the software, the English version is often more expensive.
If you buy the Chinese version, you have to be sure that your OS can support Chinese characters, otherwise you may just get some funny characters after the installation.
Since I assume we are talking about "less than legal" purchasing of software, I would like to add two things...
1. In the past, software I have "purchased" in China has had viruses on it, so be careful and run a virus scan on the CD/DVD before installing.
2. If you are not buying genuine software anyways, why not cut out the Chinese middleman and just download a "torrent" of the software online for free. Many sites run checks for viruses too.
You shouldn't buy those softwares here. Since what they do is just download the software on bittorrent and burn it on a CD, you should download it yourself. Or buy it on their official websites.
Buy it in HK, you can get a deal...and its real!
Chinese Mainland software is mostly pirated, and as someone before me said loaded with viruses and trojans!
Just use torrents because the possibility of you finding original software in electronic markets here is next to zero. You'd have to order it over the internet and then ship it over here which is extremely expensive.
In my city, there is a five story building, every floor is full of everything for computers, from new and used ones for sale, repair shops, parts stores, components, software, etc.
One thing do, the higher the floor the larger the discount you can get, so I always shop on the top floor once I found this out.
Now, I will give you an specific example. Legitimate Windows 7 Ultimate, from Microsoft, installed and with proper ID, runs around $ 250 US dollars. Same version, pirated, installed, runs about 6 Rmb. If you can put up with the p[op up telling you it is a counterfit and resolve the issue about every 15 minutes, then go that way. I have both, anbd both run fine so far. The legal one on my desk top, the illegal one on a travel laptop which I do not use much, except when I travel.