The ongoing battle against software counterfeiters

Earlier this month, software giant Microsoft unveiled a licensing program to enable resellers to help enterprises that are victim of counterfeit software. The program once again raised the issue of counterfeit software and its far-reaching effects on the market.

The Get Genuine Windows Agreement (GGWA), seeks to make it easier for businesses to obtain legal licenses of Windows XP software. With GGWA, business customers can now buy full licenses of Windows XP the same way they acquire other software, through a Volume Licensing program offered through their reseller.

These programs follow the genesis of Microsoft’s Genuine Software Initiative (GSI), which unites Microsoft’s many anti-piracy efforts under a single corporate umbrella. The initiative targets three strategic areas: Education, Engineering, and Enforcement. Within each area, Microsoft is driving activities and creating programs that inform and protect consumers and resellers from counterfeit software and other forms of software piracy.

Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft’s Genuine Software Initiative, said: “We know there are people out there who probably wonder why Microsoft spends so much time and effort ensuring consumers and businesses have access to fully licensed, genuine software. For starters, the economic effects of software piracy are staggering, and it’s a financial issue that plagues everyone from Fortune 500 companies to family-owned businesses.”

Hartje said probably one of the most familiar methods of piracy would be peer-to-peer piracy, where users share software using CDs or via the Internet.

“There are also unscrupulous resellers in the channel, such as system builders, who load unlicensed software onto computers and sell them. In the corporate customer space there is also what is referred to as “mislicensing,” which involves misperceptions around the licensing rules in the Microsoft volume licensing agreements,” added Hartje. “We are listening to our customers and partners about what they need in terms of programs to help resolve licensing issues. With their feedback and the most recent technologies, we are actively developing licensing solutions.”

To get a local perspective, we asked leading Microsoft and the Business Software Alliance (BSA): What can be done to reduce the quantity of counterfeit software in the Australian market?