14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has visited Romania today, February 1 2007, and has participated together with president Traian Basescu and prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu at the inauguration of the Microsoft technical support center in Bucharest. According to Microsoft, the Bucharest technical support center will provide assistance to the Redmond Company's European customers, focusing on France and Germany. The technical support center is expected to employ over 600 local specialists.
"Today we have many things to celebrate. Of course the opening of this global support center is a confirmation for the great technical skills being developed in Romania, and it's very important for Microsoft. The support work that's being done here is going to help out customer throughout Europe handle complex problems," Gates said.
Bill Gates also launched Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office System and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 on the Romanian market. Gates revealed to the public that Romanian specialists were also involved in the development of the three products, including the employees of GeCAD and antivirus and mail software server Romanian developer acquired by Microsoft in 2003.
President Basescu was responsible for the discordant note of the event when he praised software piracy as being involved in the educational process of the Romanian youth. He culminated associated piracy with a positive investment.
"A bad thing, piracy, became in the end an investment in friendship toward Microsoft and Bill Gates, an investment in educating the young generation in Romania which created the Romanians' friendship with the computer," Basescu babbled.