Microsoft announced its new Genuine Software Initiative campaign to help protect consumers and resellers from counterfeit software and other forms of software piracy.
The GSI campaign will focus on the protection of users and resellers from counterfeit or otherwise illegal software and their education regarding the considerable advantages they have from the use of genuine products. Some of these advantages include the ability to acquire updates or add-on products at no charge as well as to benefit from the offer of free products.
The initiative will focus increasing investments across three strategic areas: education, engineering and enforcement.
Consumers or businesses that deploy counterfeit software put their PCs and networks at peril for encountering tampered code, viruses and even credit card theft. In the end, the consumer and the corporation may suffer just as much, if not more, harm than the software vendors.
The Anti-Piracy features that were starting to appear in Windows XP will become more prominent with the launch of
Educational efforts are crucial to help protect consumers and reduce software piracy. The best way, according to Microsoft, is to raise awareness of the issue and equip them to spot counterfeit software and help them understand what they should do about it.
“By being aware and reporting counterfeit software, consumers can help protect themselves and other consumers, which is good for them, good for software resellers and good for the software industry,” said Aly Harake, License Compliance Manager at Microsoft Eastern Mediterranean.
Piracy and counterfeit products are an important issue across the entire technology industry. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) estimates that 35% of all software used worldwide is counterfeit or otherwise illegal. The recent IDC Economic Impact Study found that if the global software piracy rate was lowered 10 percentage points over the next four years, this change would contribute 2.4 mln new jobs and USD 400 bln in economic growth to the global economy.
BSA Cyprus has been active in organising training for enforcement officials, public campaigns and seminars to increase awareness in relation to software piracy. BSA Cyprus can also arrange for materials and computer search tools to be made available to help companies or individuals manage existing software. BSA can be reached through the homepage www.bsa.org or by e-mail at [email protected]Â .
