Interesting article. It's true that most of the software here in Romania is pirated, but i wouldn't say that "Pirates will even call at your office to flog pirated CDs and DVDs".

And yes, the president was right, the IT industry in Romania emerged from pirated copies of Windows (+ Office, Macromedia (Adobe), etc.).
It's not so bad after all, as people get used with the software they work with day by day and will eventually buy it in the end. Software companies will get their money back in the long term.