14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has been on the fast track to nab hackers throughout the world. They've managed to succeed throughout the world at making hackers pay for messing with the unstoppable software giant. Yet, they've still calculated that of all the Microsoft software that users are currently using, about 35% of that is pirated. In a push to drive security up and pirating down, Microsoft has launched a UK-based scheme designed to combat software piracy. The 'Keep IT Real' initiative will central plank in a three-year program that aims to reduce the UK piracy level for Microsoft Windows by 5% to 11.7%.
Microsoft's UK head of anti-piracy, Michala Alexander said, "Resolving the problem of software piracy would be immensely beneficial to the UK economy. Keep IT Real will help us to address the problem in a number of ways. By educating customers on how to purchase legitimate software, we can protect them from the risks associated with piracy. And by closing down channels for the sale of pirate software, we can reduce the impact of illegal trade on Microsoft's UK partners."
"Reducing levels of Windows piracy by 5 percent will help generate substantial extra revenue for Microsoft's 30,000 UK partners and their local economies. We are looking into how we put in place measures to halt software piracy across other Microsoft products," she added.
Aside from their Keep IT Real push, Microsoft announced 'Feet on the Street' a service which would launch a nationwide investigation into vendors of illegal Microsoft software. As part of this exercise, in the next six months, two teams of investigators will make 800 visits across the UK to technology vendors suspected of hard-disk loading or other forms of piracy.
Michala Alexander added that "A small number of IT vendors are at the moment putting customers at risk of unwittingly running illegal software. The work of the Feet on the Street teams will make clear to these vendors that Microsoft will not tolerate illegal copies of its software being sold."