[Fsf-friends] Re: Interview on Software Piracy - Microsoft India Chairman Ravi Venkatesan

[Viswanath Durbha]

Hi,

Here's a link to the complete interview.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/22/stories/2007082254291100.htm

Thanks and Regards,
Viswanath

On 8/22/07, Viswanath Durbha <viswanath.durbha at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> There was an interesting interview with Microsoft India Chairman Ravi
> Venkatesan on software piracy.
>
> The following are some highlights which most of us would not agree,
> but nevertheless, we can get some insight as to how they perceive this
> issue.
>
> Here's what he says about the issue.
>
> 1. Almost all developing countries tend to be high-piracy markets.
> 2. Bulk of the economic success in the near future will depend on
> "Intellectual Property", hence it makes sense for India to have a good
> regime around "Intellectual Property Rights".
> 3. Microsoft is trying to "educate" policy makers and governments and
> helping in setting up IPR courts.
> 4. If you are using a pirated version, your experience should be
> perceptibly different and worse.
> 5. NASSCOM has taken a very strong view on the importance of IPR,
> genuine software and so forth.
> 6. Indian businesses today are making record profits, and their
> refusal to pay for the software they use is a bit unconscionable.
> 7. If you have got a non-genuine copy of software, it will not be able
> to access those services. This is a very promising trend for software
> companies to crack down on piracies.
> 8. The best Microsoft or any technology company can do is to make it
> harder and harder, so that the casual pirate is deterred. It will be
> hard to stop the determined pirate.
>
>
> It doesn't matter whether we agree with any single point mentioned
> above, but the lens through which they see the issue of giving freedom
> to the users is very different from the lens through which our free
> software world looks at it.
>
> A worrying point in the interview may be how Microsoft is trying to
> "educate" policy-makers and governments and convince them that sharing
> is bad.
>
> Thanks and Regards,
> Viswanath
>