DAMAGE TO MICROSOFT IN ARMENIA UP TO $ 50 MILLION
PanARMENIAN.Net
04.02.2010 15:00 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Every year, Microsoft’s losses vary from USD 8 to
USD 50 million due to pirated software in the Armenian market.
According to the director of Microsoft office in Armenia, Grigor
Barseghyan , about 30 per cent of this amount are the losses of the
state and copyright owners. Last year Microsoft submitted a program
to combat illegal computer programs. "The program arose a serious
discussion in the Ministry of Economy, which entailed establishing
of the inter-ministerial commission by the decision of the RA Prime
Minister," Grigor Barseghyan told PanARMENIAN.Net.
According to him, the commission will examine the problems in
legislation, issues of international cooperation and protection of the
rights of Armenian developers. "Hackers’ attacks are often possible
because of usage of unlicensed software. That is why the government
should become an example of the use of licensed programs, " director
of Microsoft in Armenia said. According to the data of the company,
licensed software is installed on only 30 per cent of computers used
in state bodies of the country.
Meanwhile, according to research by Business Software Alliance and IDC
Global Software in 2009, Armenia has been named among major consumers
of pirated products, along with Georgia, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.