At Microsoft Croatia, they believe that the software piracy rate will not increase in our country due to the crisis, which, according to the latest data for 2007, was 54 percent, about 14 percent lower than in Central and Eastern European countries including Russia, but also about 18 percent higher than the EU average of 36 percent.
Microsoft experts also believe that original and licensed software will increasingly be used in Croatia, both for private home needs and for business, which will contribute to the growth of the ICT market and the Croatian economy, it was stated at today’s meeting with journalists at the company. Microsoft in Croatia, just like globally since its founding about 30 years ago, prioritizes the protection of intellectual property and software as copyright, emphasized Bojan Stipić, head of intellectual property protection at Microsoft.
Therefore, Microsoft has developed numerous licensing models for its products, tailored to user needs, as well as sales tracking, which they also do in Croatia through the “Satisfied Customer” program. As part of this, they visit about 50 sales locations through so-called mystery shopping, evaluating and rewarding the best stores and sellers. According to their estimates, about 75 percent of personal computers sold in Croatia have one of Microsoft’s operating systems, most often Windows, which are also the most susceptible to piracy. The case is somewhat less so with Office, according to estimates.
