14 DAY TRIAL // Selling and installing pirated Microsoft software is nothing short of an integral part of the mundane scenery in Russia, a study from the Redmond company found. Russian software outlets are easily getting away with commercializing bootlegged products, the software giant showed, although the company did emphasize that the situation is not as worse as it once was. Essentially, Microsoft found that approximately 25% of all Russian shops sell pirated copies of its software.
However, the market for dealing with unlicensed software is not as lucrative as it once was, as the retailers of counterfeit products face increasing risk of attracting the attention of authorities. "A few years ago most computer stores in some form or other offered pirate software," revealed Denis Guz, head of the company's department evangelizing the sale of licensed software, according to NZHerald. "Now, as we see, there are significantly fewer sales points of that kind ... and now the majority of retailers offer only licensed programs."
Microsoft’s study involved no less than 2,500 retail outlets in 53 Russian cities. The company found not only that one quarter of retailers was dealing with counterfeit copies of Microsoft Software, but that approximately 11% even went as far as to offer customers installation services.
In the country’s capital, Moscow, the rate of retailers commercializing pirated Microsoft software is a little bigger than the overall average, namely 27%. However, Russian authorities seem to suffer from the short arm of the law syndrome, as in Central Siberia and the Far East, no less than 71% of retailers are offering pirated products.
Just as it did with all Central and East European markets, Microsoft is collaborating closely with Russian authorities in order to make sure that bootleggers of its software are brought to justice. Still, the process is slow and complex, and the Redmond company can hope to at least curb software piracy, but less to see the phenomenon stamped out.