Microsoft Gives Away Free Software to NGOs in Countries with High Piracy Rates

Microsoft has started to give away free software licenses for Microsoft software to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and independent media in 12 countries with a high level of piracy.

The countries in which this campaign will be implemented are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. This license, called unilateral software license, legalizes pirated copies of Microsoft software already installed on computers of NGOs members and small independent media via a document that can be printed from the Internet. The license will be valid until January 1, 2012.

For an NGO to qualify for this license the government share in the NGO needs to be less than 10 percent, it must operate on a not-for-profit basis and have a mission to benefit the local community. As Microsoft explained, “eligible organizations may also include small, independent media, or others that hold a local public communication license, are members of a local media association, or are recognized by an international media organization”.

Earlier this year, the computer giant was accused of assisting the Russian authorities in confiscating government opponents’ computers under the pretext of searching for unlicensed software.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Pavlovic at our Macedonia office.

Source: Technology news portal ConceivablyTech