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PT Microsoft Indonesia will sell a Windows software version
called Education Innovation Suite at US$3 to Indonesian students, as
part of its program to help close the digital gap in the country.
President director of Microsoft Indonesia Tony Chen said Wednesday his
company would cooperate with the Education Ministry by allowing it to
buy the licenses for distribution to students.
"We will meet the minister to discuss plans," Tony said, adding around
10,000 licenses would be available in the program annually.
The Innovation Suite includes the Windows XP Starter Edition, Microsoft
Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Math 3.0, Learning Essentials
2.0 for Microsoft Office and Windows Live Mail desktop.
At a meeting in Beijing in April, Microsoft top executive Bill Gates
said his company would provide 10,000 licenses per year to students in
developing countries.
Corporate affairs director Dradjat Panjawi said the discount sales
would allow Indonesian students to gain access to information at a
reduced cost, improve awareness of intellectual rights and help curb
software piracy.
Microsoft Indonesia has been trying to fight software piracy through
educational seminars and by offering special prices for licenses to
those working in the education sector.
The company is offering an 80 percent discount to government offices
and an 18-25 percent discount to small-medium businesses that purchase
the Windows Starter Edition.
Tony said piracy in Indonesia had decreased to 85 percent of the total
product sold in 2006 from 87 percent in 2005.
According to a report from the International Data Corporation,
Indonesia was the eighth largest country involved in computer software
piracy in 2006 after Armenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Zimbabwe, Vietnam,
Venezuela and Pakistan.
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