14 DAY TRIAL // Steve Ballmer managed not only to temper the Windows Vista projections and cause a drop in Microsoft's stock, but he also revealed that his expectations for the WGA are modest. Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer couldn't talk about the Redmond Company's revenue growth strategies without addressing the piracy issue. Attending a Financial Analyst Briefing in New York City on Thursday, February 15, 2007, Ballmer revealed that he has little faith in the impact that the anti-piracy efforts Microsoft has poured into Windows Vista will be able to deliver.
"Piracy reduction can be a source of Windows revenue growth, and I think we'll make some piracy improvements this year. We have new technologies built into Windows Vista, something we call Windows Genuine Advantage we've really dialed up in capabilities with the Vista release, and I do think that that will bring some revenue growth," Ballmer stated. "I still don't count on it to be a huge thing on the scale of this business as we really ferret through how far we can dial it up, and what that means for customer experience and customer satisfaction."
The fact of the matter is that just a little over two weeks since Vista has hit the selves, the operating system has been cracked and is available as a free download from peer-to-peer networks but also for purchase for dirt cheap prices on street stores. Windows Genuine Advantage has done little to tackle the issue. One of the aspects that Microsoft has interpreted positively is the fact that the value of pirated Vista has dropped due to the fact that bootleggers cannot guarantee functionality against the WGA mechanism.
"We will have strong growth in the Windows business in emerging markets: China, India, Brazil, Russia, and many others. But that's strong growth on quite a low base of revenue. Those markets are very high piracy. In some cases we also have much lower pricing in some of those markets with our Starter Edition, et cetera," Ballmer added.