One of the world’s leading software manufacturer, Microsoft
Corporation, says Ethiopia is experiencing a rising number of what turn out to
be ‘accidental pirates’, people who
unintentionally purchased counterfeit software from resellers they believe to
be reliable and only later find out they have been duped.
According to the statement, it is becoming increasingly
difficult to differentiate between genuine and non-genuine software, unless
consumers are discerning and know what to look out for. Microsoft is advising
consumers to educate themselves around how to tell whether their software and
hardware are genuine.
The issue of software piracy was elevated to the global
stage today (November 18) as countries around the world observed Microsoft’s
inaugural ‘Play Fair Day,’ an initiative to educate consumers, businesses, and
governments about the damages of pirated software.
In support of global Play Fair Day, Microsoft released the
findings of new research today which examined the financial impact using
illegal software has on the competitive landscape within developing economies.
A study of manufacturing companies in Brazil, Russia, India
and China that choose to use illegal software steal more than 1.5 billion US
dollars from their in-market competitors that choose to play fair by using
genuine software.
“The ability to insert more than 1.5 billion US dollars per
year into these economies should be reason enough to play fair, regardless of
the other inherent dangers pirated software brings to a business,” said Dale
Waterman, Microsoft’s Corporate Attorney for Anti-Piracy for the Middle East
and Africa region.
“Pirated and counterfeit software is lining the pockets of
dangerous criminals. What’s more, when companies use pirated software, it
hinders job opportunities and stifles innovation. It is also just plain wrong.”
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) estimates that the
commercial value of unlicensed software installed on personal computers in
Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), which excludes South Africa, reached 109
million US dollars in 2010 as 83 percent of software deployed on PCs during the
year was pirated. This stands at almost double the global piracy rate for PC
software, which is 42 percent – having risen by 3.6 points on the previous five
year average.
“Software piracy is unfair play that ultimately hurts us
all. Economic growth in Ethiopia is thwarted by piracy – pirated software
doesn’t create jobs for students, developers, or IT professionals. This is one
of the key reasons we take our responsibility to educate consumers about the
risks – and support local enforcement efforts by relevant copyright authorities
– extremely seriously,” says Eric Odipo, Channel Lead, Microsoft East and
Southern Africa.
“Playing fair begins when people and businesses take a stand
and demand legal software,” according to Microsoft.
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