Software Piracy and Copyright Infringement has long been a plague eating up valuable revenue for the developers in the developing countries. Countries like Pakistan, India, China, Malaysia, Bangladesh etc have always been center of attention when it came to Piracy. Despite having big population numbers, Software developers have not concentrated on these potential markets, which can be a source of great revenue for them if the markets are utilized properly, and some efforts are invested in eroding software piracy.
THE cost of the licensed versions of WindowsXP Professional and OfficeXP Professional combined is higher than what an average Pakistani earns in a whole year which means the software, so crucial for today’s computing, is unaffordable to a typical Pakistani computer user.
The obvious choice, hence, is to use pirated software available on a CD that can be bought anywhere for a mere 25 to 30 rupees. Almost all the home users, and most of the commercial users too, indulge in this crime without giving a thought to the rights of Microsoft, the owner of the intellectual property known as Microsoft Windows, Office and other software.
Microsoft though has just started to focus on the Pakistani market, and as such they had jointly organized training session for Federal Investigation Agency to increase the awareness of Copy Right Infringement. It’s a good initiative but unless and until copyright infringement is not given serious consideration on the Legal front, not much is going to change.
Country Manager Microsoft Pakistan, Kamal Ahmed, shed light on Microsoft’s commitment to safeguarding interests of the consumers and said, ‘The ability of the government and IT eco-system to create new jobs and a better quality of life through information technology is strongly affected by how they handle piracy.
In Pakistan, about twenty software houses are already our certified partners. A “certified partner” is globally recognized and some of them are selling us technologies. This is to ensure that these people are solution developers.
Microsoft has much to offer to software house in Pakistan. They have some great solutions and all they need is someone to market them. However, since these people are not using legal software, they get afraid of Microsoft. We are also trying to solve that issue. We have a very attractive offer for the software houses in Pakistan. We will make them Microsoft certified partners, which is a world-recognized status.
THE cost of the licensed versions of WindowsXP Professional and OfficeXP Professional combined is higher than what an average Pakistani earns in a whole year which means the software, so crucial for today’s computing, is unaffordable to a typical Pakistani computer user.
The obvious choice, hence, is to use pirated software available on a CD that can be bought anywhere for a mere 25 to 30 rupees. Almost all the home users, and most of the commercial users too, indulge in this crime without giving a thought to the rights of Microsoft, the owner of the intellectual property known as Microsoft Windows, Office and other software.
Microsoft though has just started to focus on the Pakistani market, and as such they had jointly organized training session for Federal Investigation Agency to increase the awareness of Copy Right Infringement. It’s a good initiative but unless and until copyright infringement is not given serious consideration on the Legal front, not much is going to change.
Country Manager Microsoft Pakistan, Kamal Ahmed, shed light on Microsoft’s commitment to safeguarding interests of the consumers and said, ‘The ability of the government and IT eco-system to create new jobs and a better quality of life through information technology is strongly affected by how they handle piracy.
In Pakistan, about twenty software houses are already our certified partners. A “certified partner” is globally recognized and some of them are selling us technologies. This is to ensure that these people are solution developers.
Microsoft has much to offer to software house in Pakistan. They have some great solutions and all they need is someone to market them. However, since these people are not using legal software, they get afraid of Microsoft. We are also trying to solve that issue. We have a very attractive offer for the software houses in Pakistan. We will make them Microsoft certified partners, which is a world-recognized status.