Microsoft denies reports of amnesty for piracy in RI

Microsoft denies reports of amnesty for piracy in RI

Associated Press, Redmond, Washington

Microsoft Corp. on Thursday denied reports in the Asian press
that it has reached an agreement with Indonesia to offer amnesty
for illegal copies of Windows on government computers.

"The company does not have any amnesty-type government
licensing programs in development or under consideration in
Indonesia at this time," said Microsoft spokesperson Alexandra
Mercer.

The Jakarta Post newspaper had reported an amnesty deal was
reached after Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met
with Microsoft founder Bill Gates in Redmond last month.

The paper said that in exchange for a token settlement of $1
per computer using pirated software, the government promised to
make only legal purchases of Microsoft software in the future.

"Microsoft is being realistic," Indonesia's information
minister, Sofyan Djalil, told the Post.

"They can't force developing countries like us to solely use
legal software since we can't afford it. They want us to
gradually reduce our use of it."

The Business Software Alliance, a software industry
organization, reported in May that in 2004, 53 percent of the
software installed on personal computers in the Asia Pacific
region was pirated.

Indonesia, with an 87 percent piracy rate in 2004, was the
fifth-worst software pirate in the world, after Vietnam, Ukraine,
China and Zimbabwe.

"Microsoft will continue to engage and work with the
government of Indonesia to explore how we can best meet their
needs in a manner that delivers value to the government and its
citizens," Mercer said.