Redmond’s never-ending battle against piracy has taken it to South Korea, where it is now fighting the South Korean Ministry of National Defense over annual fees for its software products.
Microsoft is demanding that the South Korean authorities should play a total of $12 million of the software it uses every year.
A new report at Wall Street Journal shows that the unlicensed software is being used on the country’s military command, control communication and computer information network — and at least 230,000 computers are allegedly running unlicensed Microsoft products.
This is a mind-blowing figure, anyway you look at it, and makes one think what the IT managers were smoking while this was going on. The South Korean authorities, on the other hand, claim that they acquired Microsoft’s software through reliable third-party retailers.
Third-party retailers, mmm, mmm!
Representatives at Microsoft Korea claim that the software giant had already begun the process of negotiations with the ministry, but up until now the talks between the two parties have been inconclusive.
So what will Microsoft do if a settlement is not reached in the near future?
You guessed it right — the company is claiming that it is also looking to move the dispute into court. This makes it dispute to keep an eye on, so expect more news on this interesting matter soon.
