Posted on 06/10/2005 1:48:32 PM PDT by QwertyKPH
Indonesian amnesty rumours abound...
Microsoft is in discussion with the Indonesian government on how to tackle the rampant use of cracked Windows.
Indonesia, the fifth worst country for software piracy according to the BSA, could be let off lightly. According to a report in the Jakarta Post, Microsoft is offering the government an amnesty of $1 per pirated copy of Windows and a promise from the administration it will buy legally.
Indonesia's information and communication minister Sofyan Djalil reportedly told the paper: "Microsoft will certify the already-installed illegal software but in the future, all government computers must have legal software produced by the company."
Djalil continuted: "Microsoft is being realistic. 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 government has promised to be completely legal by 2007, the report said.
A spokeswoman for Microsoft UK refused to be drawn on whether the software giant was prepared to 'legalise' the cracked software for $1 each. "We will continue to engage and work with the government of Indonesia," she said.
However, according to a report in the Seattle Times, a US spokeswoman denied that the company had any "amnesty-style government licensing programmes" planned for Indonesia.
Could it be from the USA giving amnesty to illegal alians?
No. It could be trying to squeeze as much money as possible from the Indonesians. A form of price-discrimination.
Microsoft denied this report a couple of days ago.
It isn't true? It does have the grey market flavor of Canada reselling our pharm meds.
It's a pre-emptive move to get even these poorer countries to buy the next MS product (Longhorn, or maybe a stripped down Windows XP for cheap), as opposed to either continuing to be software pirates OR switching to Linux/freeOS stuff (more threatening to MS)....
If true Microsoft is finally charging what it's worth.
No, Microsoft should have to pay the customer for the time wasted due to their awful software! Although XP is finally pretty stable (at least for me)... but I still haven't forgiven them for win95 and 98, and probably never will.
You didn't like Windows Many Explicatives (ME)?
seems like what collection agencies do in order to reboot the statute of limitations. get the person to pay any token amount in order to bring the uncollectable account back into the system.
By getting a token payment Microsoft accomplishes the task of identifying the number of illegal copies and then has a benchmark to charge for the illegal copies in the future.
I can't afford a Ferrari, so I think I'll just go out and steal one. When I get caught, I will just promise to pay full sticker price for every Ferrari I buy in the future.
Their "need" doesn't mean that they're not a bunch of thieves. Their attitude is especially disturbing when one considers that there are legal and free alternatives they could have used instead of stealing MSFT's products.
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