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Why am I on he receiving end of recieving end of developer's malice and hatred?

Sony Vegas isn't a cheap piece of software. In fact, it's rather expensive. However, I have a legitimate copy of it. I install it every time I reformat, which happens to be a lot since the amount of time I spend on my PC tends to speed up the aging process, reducing my PC to tears within a couple of months.

Any way, I recently tried to install Sony Vegas again, and to cut a long story short, I need to buy it again because I've installed it too many times. Oh, so I have to buy it again in order to fund the money they're losing through people pirating it? Great. I'm sticking to my PC with it already installed, but I don't know what I'm going to have to do when the latest reformat goes bad. I'm certainly not going to buy it again. I might even have to get a keygen or something...

I'm fed up of this. Why should legitimate users get a worse experience than the pirates? Why do we have to insert discs, type in those long codes when installing games and get these dodgy security methods (such as DRM and Securom) while pirates end up getting a game they can store on their hard drive with out any sort of protection systems to get in the way of the game? It doesn't make sense.

Same with movies. Why do I buy a DVD, only to get told that piracy is wrong? Why do I have to sit through copyright notices while the pirates, once again, get a simple movie file they can access at any time on their hard drive?

I don't like people who pirate. Especially when they get a superior experience. I don't like people who download Windows illegally, then slate it on forums. They're not just content with stealing something, they then have to publicly say how bad it is. That's hurting developers in two different ways. I don't like how people who download stuff illegally go on about how cool they are for being able to do it and that people who go to the trouble of buying it are stupid. Something that's been making my life harder at the moment is the people who come to me for help with Hammer or Source games because they're not working. There are a couple of problems, including missing textures, that keep on cropping up. Guess what they all have in common? They're all from illegal copies of the program. And the people asking for help always get aggressive when I tell them I can't help them because I don't feel I should. (And because I don't know how to :P) It's nice to see Valve actually making pirate's lives a misery, though to be honest with you I don't like Valve for the opposite reason- they're too successful. They forced me to use Steam to play Half Life 2, then got me to buy all of these games they offered me at discount prices. Yup, Valve are making an absolute killing. They deserve to for making such an accessible, well run program. I admire them for that and feel angry I didn't have the know how and resources to do it first. I guess the least I can do is to leech off them and try to become well known, showing people how to make maps for their products. Everybody wins! Oh, and as for those of you who promise yourselves that you'll buy a video you like after you illegally downloaded it, who are you trying to kid? You'll walk into the store and at best you'll think 'Hmm I could buy the video I downloaded and liked, but I'd rather buy something I haven't watched yet!' ...most people will just go 'Oh that sounds good, lets pirate that as well!' In all honesty, I hope that people who pirate do get cracked down on.

It's not fair that people pirate. But it's even more unfair that those who don't get punished for it with extreme security measures. I don't know if it's just me trying to feel sorry for myself, but since I Installed Mirror's Edge I've experienced random freezes and crashes I didn't have before. I looked up the game and realised it has DRM and Securom security things embedded in it. If it carries on like this then I may end up having to pirate the things I've already bought just to play them the way they were(n't) meant to be played.

Rant over. Back to good old, security-free Solitaire.