Chennai : Channel partners in few upcountry regions in Tamil Nadu and Jaipur are upset about the manner in which they are being made to buy Microsoft OEM packs. Over the past few weeks partners in Tirupur, Trichy, Tirunelveli and Jaipur, have been receiving calls from the local sales people of Microsoft, asking them to buy a certain number of OEM packs to avoid being blacklisted for piracy related activities, and to avoid any raids on the partner's premises.

These calls from Microsoft come as an added agony to partners who are already facing a difficult situation due to the slowdown and economical crisis. "Partners in Tirupur have got calls from Microsoft sales people stating that their names have been short listed for their piracy activities and that they need to buy a certain amount of OEM products immediately to avoid any actions like raids being taken on them. We have been strictly against piracy in our region and have been promoting original software even without the support of Microsoft. Disturbed by these calls, few partners have bought OEM packs immediately," said K Ravichandran, President, Tirupur IT Association (TITA).

Few partners in Tirupur have also been asked to meet Microsoft representatives. "Some of our partners were asked to meet Microsoft representatives, and they were asked to be present without default. The representatives claimed that had various evidence against the dealers on their involvement in piracy related activities," Ravichandran claimed.

He added that all machines being sold were being bundled with OEM packs and the dealers are trying to create awareness among the public by recommending only original products. "We are trying our level best to sell Microsoft products, but there hasn't been any support from them in terms of educating resellers and end-users. Already our sales have been down since the past two months and now these calls are adding to our agony and putting severe pressure on us," he averred.

Ravichandran also said that Microsoft should stop this sort of practice and in turn conduct more education programs for all associations. "Education programs for the partners and sales support for educating the end-users are needed from Microsoft. We have been supporting Microsoft and we will continue to support them and their products. All we want is their support," he added.

When contacted, H Wilson, President, Trichy Association, claimed that they were asked to buy certain amount of OEM packs and the channel was going to comply with Microsoft's representatives. "Our dealers have been asked to buy certain amount of Microsoft OEM packs and we are going to do that. We don't want to make a big issue out of this and so will abide by what they say, as we are doing the same for all other vendors too. There are a few price differences and we have asked for the assistance of Microsoft for that alone," Wilson informed.

Claiming that partners who haven't performed well are in the target list, H Naushad Basha, President, Tirunelveli IT Association said, "People can't just call us and ask us to buy OEM packs to avoid action being taken against us. What will we do if we have to buy those products and there is no sales for it, and no sales support," Basha questioned.

T Kumar Secretary, Tirunelveli IT Association said that dealers are in dire need of support from Microsoft to make sales happen in the region.

Apart from Tamil Nadu, Jaipur is also another area where similar activities are said to be happening. A Microsoft dealer in Jaipur, on the condition of anonymity, revealed that directly and indirectly the market executives of the software giant have been sending across a message to partners stating that they need to sell certain amount of OEM products every month in the absence of which stern action would be taken against them.

"This is the wrong way to push products to the partners. We are not comfortable in following this practice but nobody has the courage to take a step against the big brand. We are forced to buy MS packages every months and it creates pressure for us," said another Microsoft dealer.

It is also reported that Microsoft sends two to three such letters every month to resellers. Channel partners at local levels are not strong enough to raise their issue, if any, against the company. Rather, strong IT associations and the government should collectively raise their voice so that a multi-national company does not practice monopoly in the country.

"It is true that associations at regional level do not have bandwidth and capability to fight a giant company. A joint effort by government and IT association on national level can only take steps for the welfare of the channel fraternity. For instance, the Chinese government has complete rule over the policies and practice of a multi-national company and even Microsoft has to follow the policies that favors the government and its people," shared a Microsoft dealer in Jaipur, while discussing the monopolistic attitude of big companies.

When contacted S Karthikeyan, President, Confed-ITTA said that federation had been working with Microsoft on an understanding for the past one and a half years in bringing down the piracy level in the state. "We are working closely to check the piracy levels in the state and any initiatives of Microsoft to bring down piracy such as raids will be through Confed-ITTA's knowledge only," said Karthikeyan.

He also said that the investigations of Microsoft would be happening in the state to bring down the piracy levels.

Sharing his comment on the initiatives taken by Microsoft in partnership with IT associations, Vipul Sant, Director-Original Software Initiative, Microsoft India said, "Our efforts in the channel are focused on protecting the honest reseller community from competing in an unfair market and to protect consumers from the perils of using pirated software. As part of this, we are collaborating with various channel associations including Confed-ITTA, South Gujarat IT Association (SITA), Traders Association of IT (TAIT) etc, against the menace of piracy-by creating a clean, safe and healthy ecosystem. Under these partnerships, we aim to drive education and awareness on the perils of piracy and the value of original software."

He further said that these associations are today insisting that their members stop indulging in software piracy and encourage them to use and sell only original software.

Replying to whether Microsoft plans to take any action if partners are found guilty, Sant further said, "Microsoft keeps a continuous check to prevent hard-disk loading of pirated MS software across the country. Software piracy is a civil and criminal offence under copyright law. Microsoft is determined to protect its customer, reseller and partner ecosystem from the threat and losses associated with piracy, and to prevent counterfeiters from taking advantage of innocent victims and gaining an unfair advantage over our honest partners. If partners are found guilty of unethical business practice our approach is to get into a dialogue with defaulting resellers and educate them on the pitfalls of piracy, and why it is not in their business interest to deal in pirated software. Only when all such dialogue and engagement fails, we initiate legal action against them. We then send a legal notice to erring channel members or take other appropriate legal steps."

(With inputs from Amrita Tejasvi in New Delhi)

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