A few weeks ago, Microsoft India extended its FlexGo service, which allows customers to pay on the basis of the number of hours they use a PC with its OS installed on it, to India. Then it offered customers the 'open Licence Value', where customers can pay one-third price of the software on an yearly basis.

Now the company is asking partners to suggest other payment mediums that will help it combat the threat from open source as well as piracy. While the piracy levels are very high for its desktop software, even server products are not exempted from this menace, though it is relatively lower.

“Unlike the desktop versions, it is not possible for us to crack down on it using aggressive means, as the abuse is not very high,” said Pallavi Kathuria, Director-Server Business Group, Microsoft Corporation India.

Microsoft employs its three-E rule for dealing with piracy-enforcement, education and engineering. Enforcement is not likely for the server software business, while education is already underway. Now the company is working on engineering, wherein a company will not be able to add any more PCs than the number of licenses it has signed up for, to the server.

In the meanwhile, the company executed a different payment option in Malaysia, where it tied up with a financial institution and let customers buy the OS for a zero percent interest rate on their credit card. Microsoft Capital, the vendor's financial division, undertook the project.

Pallavi Kathuria, Director Server Business Group, Microsoft Corporation India

Read the complete article at http://dqchannels.ciol.com/content/reselleralert/107111302.asp

Page(s)   1