What if copy protection could not be bypassed? The chaps over at Bit-Tech explore the free alternatives to the most popular programs used by many illegally. You might be surprised how much Windows, Office, Photoshop and others total up to and how capable some of their freebie replacements are.

Let's take a fairly typical Windows user who has merrily bypassed all countermeasures to prevent him stealing software - we'll call him Pete the Pirate. Pete runs Windows XP Professional - why bother with XP Home when you're not paying for it, even though 99.9% of private users won't need the extra features? Office 2003 is, of course, the de facto standard - who doesn't use Word and Excel these days? Again, free from the economical constraints of being legal, Pete installs Professional, just on the off chance he might need Access or Publisher (again, unlikely).

Adobe Photoshop is no longer only used by graphic artists - millions worldwide use it every day to manage their digital camera photo collections and sites like b3ta.com have brought photo editing for comical purposes to the mainstream. Those with a conscience might opt for the cheaper, cut-down Photoshop Elements which still has more than enough functionality for most people, but Pete runs the full-fat Photoshop CS2, just because he can.

For the sake of this exercise, let's tot up the retail cost of the software on Pete's PC:

£246.74 - Microsoft Windows XP Professional Retail
£339.54 - Microsoft Office 2003 Professional Retail
£496.19 - Adobe PhotoShop CS2 Retail

Total = £1082.47