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)