Serious thoughts on using pirated goods

I think that if you're just learning/not making a living off of something it's perfectly fine. You shouldn't be expected to fork up the massive amounts of money for software if you're only a beginner. Usually, beginners aren't even sure that they want to really get into the topic of which they are researching, so it's better for them to get experience with the industry-standard tools instead of open-source/free software that wouldn't give any benefit.