Microsoft upset over RI's high piracy rate
Microsoft upset over RI's high piracy rate
JAKARTA (JP): PT Microsoft Indonesia launched yesterday Visual
Studio 97, a software package for program development, in two
editions but expected no brisk sales due to notorious software
piracy in the country, said marketing manager Wie Lie Chan.
"The company is mainly targeting large enterprises and program
developers," Wie said in a press conference here.
He declined to project the number of Visual Studio 97 (VS 97)
to be sold in Indonesia because users rarely registered with the
company and the high piracy rate created complications in data
listing.
"We admit that we do not have protection on the software
against piracy," he said. "We expect users to be more mature and
to follow the example in South America which has been able to
fight software piracy.
"We admit that overall Microsoft sales are still quite low in
Indonesia due to piracy and most users are using pirated
products.
"We are selling VS 97 at about Rp 4 million (US$1,665) but due
to a high level of piracy and the fast changes in computer
technology, the price may be cut by 20 percent," Wie said.
He explained that the two editions of Visual Studio 97 --
Professional Edition and Enterprise Edition -- are comprehensive
tools integrating Internet technology and client/server
solutions. VS 97 contains five development tools, comprising
Microsoft Visual Basic Programming System Version 5.0, Microsoft
C++ Development System Version 5.0, Microsoft Visual J++
Development System Version 1.1, Microsoft Visual InterDev Web
Development System and Microsoft Visual FoxPro Database
Management System Version 5.0.
According to U.S.-based Business Software Alliance, a
nonprofit body which promotes the growth of the software
industry, about 98 percent of computer software used in Indonesia
in 1995 with a total value of $150.12 million was pirated copies.
The piracy level placed Indonesia second in the world after
Vietnam with a 99 percent piracy rate.
Indonesia, with its new copyright law effective today, plans
to introduce heavier sanctions against property rights offenders
with fines of up to $41,360 and a maximum imprisonment of seven
years for selling or copying a copyrighted work.
Wie said yesterday that Microsoft Inc. of the United States
spent about $2 billion for its research and development
activities last year. (10)