There's defintieyl some MBA's crunching numbers, but I don't think piracy is "deliberate" per se. It's more an inevtiability, as inevitable as it is that businesses find ways around it. Deliberacy is companies dumping low key sanctioned torrents themselves (which is stupid, because even back in the 90's there was the idea of "lite/trial/watermarked" versions of software).

That said, this strategy is surefire when it comes to consumer products like Windows. Consumers will stick with what thye are comfortable with. The Network Effect. It's a huge gamble for professional tools like Adobe, and they are somewhat lucky there wasn't a timeline where GIMP un-GIMPED itself, nor where Krita and other modern competitors didn't get adopted faster. There's money at stake, so professionals can and will learn new tools if the tools bite them.