Microsoft enjoys rising demand for software
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
PT Microsoft Indonesia is seeing a rising demand for its software products following the implementation of the country's law on intellectual property rights.
"Our partners have been busy meeting demands from end users for original Microsoft software," Microsoft Indonesia marketing communications executive Cynthia Iskandar told The Jakarta Post last week.
But the company will not revise its sales target for this year. For the 2003/2004 fiscal year, which started in July, the company projected sales to increase by 10 percent. This projection did not take into account the positive impact of the law on intellectual property rights, which was implemented on July 29.
Reports have shown that 89 percent of software products used in Indonesia are pirated. But since July 29 more individuals and companies have started to use genuine software products.
Book store operator PT Gunung Agung, for example, has planned to purchase licensed software products for all computers at its headquarters and in more than 30 bookstores across the country.
"We estimate the licensed-software will cost us at least Rp 1 billion (US$120,482)," Yudo Adiwibowo, the company's information and technology officer told the Post.
He said that the decision to buy Microsoft products came after a sales officer from Microsoft Indonesia offered the company a "software consultation" prior to the implementation of the law.
Microsoft's business development manager Diana Soedardi told the Post that her company also provided a service for existing and potential customers to manage the software.
"The program is called the Microsoft Software Asset Management Program, and it is free," she said. "Currently we use a software inventory program called SAMLite2.0 to run the program.
She said that in July, as many as 90 customers asked for SAMLite2.0 deployment.
Microsoft also offers various financing schemes.
"For education institutions, we offer a 10 percent to 20 percent discount," said Diana.
Many other companies, however, are turning to the cheaper Linux system.