RP signs pact with Microsoft

RP signs pact with Microsoft

REDMOND, Wash (Reuters): Philippines President Fidel Ramos met
with Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates Friday and proudly
collected a certificate legalizing much of his government's
pirated computer software.

After a ceremony to observe the signing of agreements
tightening relations between the software giant and the
Philippines, Gates presented Ramos with a license for free
software that was the equivalent of a partial declaration of
amnesty.

The license allows the Philippine government to use older
Microsoft products, such as the DOS operating system, that
previously were being used illegally by many government agencies
in the Southeast Asian nation, where the software piracy rate is
an estimated 90 percent.

The license, valued at up to $1 million, was granted in
recognition of the Ramos government's determination to legalize
software used by public agencies, Microsoft officials said.

Microsoft also has agreed to grant half-price licenses to the
government for current software programs such as Windows 95 and
Office, Sam Jacoba, Microsoft business development manager for
the Philippines, said.

"This is a historic moment for all of us because now we are
all legally interconnected," Ramos said, holding up a leather
binder containing the licensing grant.

Under the agreements signed at the ceremony, Microsoft will
provide "advisory and consultancy" services to help the
Philippines reach its goal of establishing the information
infrastructure to connect every home, school, business and
government agency by 2000.

Gates said he would visit the Philippines sometime in the
first half of 1998.

Ramos also met with several top Boeing executives during his
stopover on the way to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
meeting in Vancouver.