Microsoft puts faith in Indonesia despite rife piracy<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Microsoft Corporation continues to have
\nstrong faith in Indonesia although the country ranks among the
\nworst in the world when it comes to protecting intellectual
\nproperty rights for computer software.<\/p>\n
\"We are here for the long term, even though we are not getting
\npaid for (most of) our products,\" Regional Director for South
\nAsia Christophe Aulnette told journalists on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Aulnette, whose office in Singapore oversees seven Microsoft
\nsubsidiaries in the region, considered software piracy \"a
\nchallenge\" for his Indonesian team.<\/p>\n
Industry sources estimated that as many as 95 percent of
\ncomputer programs used in Indonesia are pirated, and being the
\nmarket leader, Microsoft suffers the most.<\/p>\n
\"It is one of the highest (rates of piracy) in the world,\"
\nsaid Aulnette, who is in town for the Indonesian International
\nTelecommunication, Media and Information Technology (INTELMIT
\n2000) conference and exhibition.<\/p>\n
Another way of measuring the incidence of computer piracy is
\nthrough establishing \"revenue per personal computer\" and
\nIndonesia has the lowest score in Microsoft's global operation.<\/p>\n
Microsoft, nevertheless, has no intention of withdrawing from
\nIndonesia, which Aulnette says, has strong business potential
\ngiven its population of more than 210 million people.<\/p>\n
Among the seven countries he oversees, Indonesia ranks sixth
\nin terms of revenue, or as he put it, \"well above Vietnam.\" The
\nother five countries are India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and
\nthe Philippines respectively.<\/p>\n
Aulnette said the South Asian market was the fastest growing
\nof Microsoft's global markets in 1999, and he singled out India
\nas the country with the highest growth rate.<\/p>\n
Microsoft's decision to remain in the region throughout the
\nAsian financial crisis, he said, proved to be the right one.<\/p>\n
Microsoft's Indonesian office even expanded from a staff of 24
\nto 34 during that period.<\/p>\n
Aulnette welcomed the Indonesian government's efforts to
\nresolve the piracy problem, noting that a new legislation on
\nintellectual property rights would come into effect in August.<\/p>\n
But equally important is the enforcement of the legislation,
\nhe said, underlining the fact that India, which has a good record
\nof enforcing copyright laws, has seen its own information
\ntechnology (IT) and software industries boom.<\/p>\n
\"It is not only for Microsoft's benefit. It (the legislation
\nand its enforcement) will protect local intellectual property
\nrights and help the development of the local IT industry,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"The states that do that are not doing it to please Microsoft.
\nThey are doing it for themselves,\" he added.<\/p>\n
He said enforcement in any country usually began with the
\ngovernment itself using original computer programs instead of the
\npirated versions.<\/p>\n
Large corporations follow and then the middle and small
\nenterprises before the habit is picked up by individual users.<\/p>\n
The software giant also sees a major role in helping to
\ndevelop the IT industry in Indonesia, by working in partnership
\nwith local companies to add value to the software industry and to
\ntransfer their expertise to local IT workers.<\/p>\n
Microsoft Indonesia now counts on the partnerships of nearly
\n1,000 local companies, including 26 solution providers which has
\nthe higher added value end of the business.<\/p>\n
In spite of the huge market Indonesia can potentially offer,
\nMicrosoft has no immediate plans to launch versions of its
\nproducts in Bahasa Indonesia, not even the popular ones such as
\nWindows 98, Windows 2000, Office 2000 or the Internet Explorer.<\/p>\n
\"It's a business decision, although that is not the only
\nfactor,\" Aulnette said when asked to comment on the specific
\nreason.<\/p>\n
In contrast, Microsoft has released the Vietnamese versions of
\nsome of its products although Vietnam counts as Microsoft's
\nsmallest market.<\/p>\n
The closest Microsoft will go in accommodating the Indonesian
\nlanguage is in providing an Indonesian spell check function to go
\nwith Office 2000, which will be released in July.<\/p>\n
Local computer experts say Internet use in Indonesia would
\ngrow even faster if companies had bothered to develop Indonesian
\nlanguage programs and websites, given that the majority of
\nIndonesians do not speak or write English fluently. (emb)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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