Yes, I did not make a mistake in writing the title. Taking the devil’s advocate view, I believe Microsoft and many other major software companies may inadvertently promote the “digital divide”. I hear you say, “How on Earth did I come up with that idea?” Microsoft has been the powerhouse of major advancements in this Information Age. Majority of computer systems runs Microsoft OS and other software. Many IT companies are dependent on software that are programmed to run on Windows.
Unfortunately, the cost of licensing for Windows is very expensive here in the Philippines. When I had a computer shop, I purchased about 20 licenses of Windows OS and a couple of Microsoft Office CDs for my computers. I was afraid that the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and NBI would raid my shop. It was very expensive for me since at that time, the cost was about P8,500 per Windows XP. Office 2000 was about P12,000 each. The cost of licensed software was higher than the cost of the computer itself! And what’s more, I found out that Microsoft does not honor those legally purchased licenses because they should only be used for OEM or standalone computers;not those computers being used/rented by other people. A computer café has to apply to Microsoft and submit requirements like computer specs, number of PCs, etc.. to Microsoft Philippines. These will be entered in their database and you will have to pay annual dues on top of your licenses. If the hard disk or computer bogged down, your software license ends and you have to purchase another license for the new (or upgraded) PCs.
Complying with all the legal and ethical requirements of Microsoft is very difficult. Before I purchased the licenses, I tried using Linux systems. I learned how to install and operate various versions including Mandrake, RedHat, Xandros, Linspire, Ubuntu, BayanihanLinux, etc… Using BackOffice, StarOffice, and other free desktop publishers did not make my computer shop popular. True, these free software can do almost everything Windows can do, but the students and other clients are not so familiar with this and takes a longer time to finish their work. Since almost every client is familiar with Windows and MS Office, they would opt to go to a computer shop with those programs installed, licensed or not. And installing licensed software does not really guarantee customers and a successful business. There are more than 105 municipally registered computer shops in Los Baños alone and all of them are using Windows. Only a few PCs run Linux depending on some customer preference or requirement. And I would wager all my fingers that only a handful are 100% Microsoft compliant. Even Malacañang is not 100% compliant. How can you expect these small computer shops to spend so much for yet uncertain profit from their business?
Microsoft and BSA do not have the people nor the teeth to check all the computers in the Philippines. Basing on the experience of one LB computer café owner, BSA mostly rely on intimidation and official looking letters/mails. BSA and Microsoft partner up with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to raid computer shops/companies and truck all their computers away to the NBI Manila Office. The poor owner will of course be taken and fined. The confiscated PCs will not be returned unless a certain amount is paid (about 20,000 owner’s fine + about 10,000 per PC). If the computer café owner does not have the money, he’ll have to part with a few of his computer units in order to take back the remaining PCs. And then I asked, is NBI 100% Microsoft compliant? And wonder of wonders, of course they are! Their computers are also branded, Dell or IBM, etc… Hmm… pretty expensive, huh? Well, they are donations from Microsoft and other companies, after all… So that’s how.
On a different angle, Bill Gates is quite a rich man already. Couldn’t he lower the prices of the software so that everybody could afford it and not resort to piracy anymore? That was one argument that came up during one of the computer café owners meeting. Some argued that software piracy is rampant because the software were too expensive. Software developers argue back that many of their revenues are lost due to piracy, so they have to raise the price to offset those losses. It’s a vicious circle and nobody seems inclined to yield. Furthermore, the market price of Microsoft products is almost the same globally. Therefore, countries with higher GDPs can probably afford to become compliant than those local companies in countries with lower GDPs. The buying power of richer countries is higher than that of poorer countries. Since computers are indispensable in any country, logic follows that poorer countries have fewer resources to buy licenses and become compliant. I am trying to reason it all out and I believe that Microsoft can still get its expected revenues even if the price of their software is cheaper due to the fact that a lot more companies will be willing to become compliant. If I was a computer café owner and licensing would be only about P2,000 per PC, I would willingly add that expense to the cost of the PC. A few years ago, I have computed the GDP discrepancies in United States and in our country, and using a calculator found out that an average American buying a Windows license will spend only approx P500 equivalent in dollars. If Microsoft software is that cheap, would you still risk piracy and pay a stiff fine if you get caught?
Should software become cheap, piracy will still be there and would only be eradicated if everything was free; because by then you won’t have to pirate anything. I can’t see it happening though,since research and development does not come cheap. So in my opinion, Microsoft and other software companies are presenting an environment that is conducive for increasing the digital divide and piracy. I believe that lowering the cost of these software will promote an ethical setting with more software compliant companies.
One way that this can be started is by meeting with the government’s ICT department and drawing up a contract that would ensure very cheap cost of the software, e.g. Windows and MS Office. The government, on the other hand, would implement stricter policies on compliance and mobilize local authorities to enforce it since the software are now more affordable. Should the net income of the software companies yield lower revenues due to non-compliance or the ineffective enforcement, then they could always go back to where they were, i.e. high prices of software. I strongly suspect though that many companies, especially the small businesses, want to be compliant, they just couldn’t afford it.
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