Piracy the downfall of developers or overstated?

I am sure many of you have seen the many articles in the newspapers etc about Filesharing "damaging" the industry. It is my personal opinion that the effects of piracy are hideously overstated, not many people in the industry seem to be able to understand the difference between piracy and a lost sale.

A pirate who downloaded a piece of software for example was unlikely to buy it in the first place so it is not a "lost sale" also it is possible the "pirate" might then go out and buy the product because of the "extended trial period" they recieved.

There is a big effort going on in the UK goverment at the moment to introduce a "three strike" system for filesharers that could eventually ban them from the internet!!!! This is frankly rediculous and a sign that the record industries are trying to extend there influence out of America. It is my hope that ISPs will continue to turn a blind eye even if they do introduce such a stupid law.

More on this UK issue

PC gaming not as dead as they make out?

If you are a PC gamer you will know of the constant naysayers, saying that PC gaming is dead and that Consoles are the future.
PC game retail sale figures for 2007 in North America were reported as 14% of the market and making under $1,000,000,000. Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/28/pc-game-sales-only-14-of-industry-in-2007/

This sounds rather dissapointing in comparison to console sales. It however is my belief that the sales of PC games is becoming more and more based upon digital distribution and also people ordering online, unfortunatly these sale figures do not get added to the retail figures and would probably shed a more positive light upon the PC gaming industry.

Also one must consider that the PC is a more popular gaming, in europe a place that our american cousins frequently forget about. So the next time you see someone saying PC gaming is dying you tell them otherwise!!!