Microsoft Begins New Fight against Pirate Software in Georgia

Astudy by Business Software Alliance (BSA) has shown that unlicensed software usage still remains high in Georgia. However, the country has achieved some success in this area, with the unlicensed software usage rate falling from 90 percent to 84 percent in a year. With the aim of further reducing that number, Microsoft has signed a Memorandum of Mutual Understanding (MoU) with a number of leading Georgian retailers.

Microsoft claims that the number of people using unlicensed Microsoft products is very high, but with this new MoU it has given seven Georgian computer retailers the right to sell legitimate, licensed Microsoft products: Alta Okay, Smile, MetroMart, Elite Electronics, Aray Tomorrow, PC Shop, and CompShop.

According to the BSA survey, using unlicensed software runs a high risk of resulting cyber-threats.

Data from the Microsoft Cyber Crime Center shows that up to 80 percent of Eastern European countries are affected by cyber-criminal attacks, while 97.5 percent of small and medium businesses are faced with the threat of cyberattacks at least once.

Last year, Georgia and Microsoft signed a special agreement to give the country access to legitimate licensed Microsoft products as a first step to eliminating the use of illegally pirated software in the country. According to the Nikoloz Doborjginidze, the head of Microsoft’s representation in Georgia, since that time, the use of unlicensed Microsoft software programs in Georgia has decreased by six percent.

Eka Karsaulidze