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Microsoft announces Genuine Software Initiative
Posted on March 09, 2006

In the coming months, Microsoft will heighten efforts to raise the awareness among consumers and partners of the dangers of acquiring and installing counterfeit software.

The Genuine Software Initiative focuses on increased investment in three key areas: Education, Engineering and Enforcement.

The company is also continuing to invest in anti-counterfeiting technologies and product features that protect its intellectual property. Consumers and partners will begin to see more deliberate steps to ensure that they are getting the genuine software they expect.

"Piracy is one of the most significant problems facing the software industry globally. Every week, software pirates steal millions of copies of copyrighted computer programs worldwide. The Business Software Alliance's 2005 piracy study found that US$31 billion of software worldwide was pirated or counterfeit. Last year that piracy amounted to 35% of all software used worldwide," said Cori Hartje, Microsoft's director of License Compliance.

From an industry perspective, larger companies are still able to operate in the black, but the 35% piracy rate is a significant number for the thousands of smaller organizations that depend on the health of the software ecosystem to survive. 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 million new jobs and $400 billion in economic growth to the global economy.

As part of the overall effort to raise awareness, Microsoft is working along with industry partners to make consumers aware of the increasing risks associated with acquiring and installing counterfeit software. While the Internet facilitates commerce, it has also been adopted by software pirates as a new vehicle for peddling their illegal wares.

The possibility of a system becoming infected by spyware or other malware such as viruses or receiving incomplete code increases when consumers are sold counterfeit software over the Internet. Microsoft has also seen instances of credit card theft by those purporting to sell software online that later turned out to be counterfeit.

"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," said Laura DiDio, research fellow from The Yankee Group.

In addition to exposing users to critical issues such as identity theft as a result of acquisition of illegal software, installing and using counterfeit software can prevent customers from obtaining updates or add-on products.

Counterfeit software can come from a number of sources. Consumers should make sure that they obtain all software from a reputable source. They can look to see what the genuine Microsoft looks like and pick up some tips on how to make sure they are getting what they are paying for at "How to Tell" Web site (www.microsoft.com/howtotell).
SOURCE: Microsoft Corporation