Beats paying for the software they can't afford, and it causes no issue 99% of the time...
It's a cost/benefit analysis... Billions of people in the developing world rely on pirated software, for one...
Heck, even in large parts of Europe, at some point there would be much fewer graphic designers today e.g. if they couldn't pirate Photoshop when they were young and non-pro (and no, Gimp wouldn't be of much use, they want to learn on the industry standard)...
It's a cost/benefit analysis... Billions of people in the developing world rely on pirated software, for one...
Heck, even in large parts of Europe, at some point there would be much fewer graphic designers today e.g. if they couldn't pirate Photoshop when they were young and non-pro (and no, Gimp wouldn't be of much use, they want to learn on the industry standard)...