Even though President Traian Basescu managed to put Romania firmly on the map of software piracy while being in the company of none other than Microsoft Chairman and Co-Founder Bill Gates, China remains by far the cradle of piracy. And the situation has not been impacted in the least with the release of the Windows Vista operating system. In fact, just to the contrary, Vista's debut in China has yet again raised the question of software piracy.

According to data released by the Business Software Alliance for the past year, an estimated 86% of all the software installed on computers in China is pirated. However, the number is down from a total of 92% in 2003, revealed Victor Zhang, director of the Business Software Alliance Beijing.

However, Chinese authorities claim that the problem is not as severe as indicated by the Business Software Alliance. The State Intellectual Property Office put forward a percentage of only 66% for the software that is used illegally throughout China.

These, of course, are nothing more than estimates. The real extent of Chinese software piracy will remain unknown. But one fact that is illustrative of the amplitude is the way pirated software is commercialized at street corners and even in shops.

Windows Vista is no exception to this rule, and pirated copies cost from $1 to $8. Moreover, bootlegged copies of the operating system have beaten the real thing from Microsoft to the Chinese shelves. The Business Software Alliance informed that the financial damaged associated with software piracy in 2005 exceeded $3.9 billion. Microsoft has invested no less than $6 billion in the development of Windows Vista according to Bill Gates.