The Road That Leads from Redmond to Manila, Also Leads From Manila to Redmond
Mike Banos
April 12, 2006
Last Thursday, internet cafes all over town from the usually bustling hole-in-the-walls in Divisoria to the greater Battle Stations at Limketkai and other malls were eerily silent. The grapevine was afire with rumors that Optical Media Board (OMB) officials and their authorized enforcers were going to conduct the local version of Cesar Montano?s ?The Great Raid? on all internet cafes and other PC resellers in the city.
Whether this raid had the blessings or not of the local powers-that-be, we had no way of knowing. Bottom line, once the OMB and its minions shut down cafes and stores using or trafficking in pirated software, a lot of people including a major portion of the city?s student populace would be deprived of their major source of access to PCs and the Internet.
Not to condone the use of pirated software but issues like this, as well as those involving the pirated DVDs so popular among the poorer segments of the populace redound to one thing: demand and supply and the elasticity of prices.
As any freshman student of basic economics knows, price is a key factor which affects demand and supply. The lower the price, the greater the demand. The higher the price, and demand falls off. True, RP software prices are among the cheapest in Asia but that?s cold comfort to the businessmen and users who still can?t afford such ?low prices?. However, unlike the drivers and operators of public transport who have no choice but to bite the bullet and put up with ever rising pump prices, your average computer user and internet caf?wner do have access to alternative sources in software pirates who provide them with the latest version of Windows at dirt cheap prices compared to what multi-billionaire Bill Gates and his minions expect us bankrupt Pinoys to pay.
We pray Bill can find some softness in his heart for us Pinoys on Chapter 11 so he can offer socialized prices for his older software which work just as well as the newer ones (for which Microsoft expects us to fork over an arm and a leg). After all, aren?t Pinoy artists and programmers who power the multi-media and communications industry in G-7 countries using original Microsoft Windows? These Pinoys, for whom poor Bill should be indebted to for creating such a huge demand for the latest versions of his pricey software, don?t bill Microsoft for creating that de facto purchasing bloc. Fact is, Bill should be grateful to these artisans for ordering tons of his OSM Windows and pay them royalties equivalent to a certain percentage of the sales they generate for him, say 10 percent?
After all, these Pinoys, more often than not, learned the rudiments of programming and Windows from internet cafes or at home, using pirated software they otherwise couldn?t afford to pay for at their ?original? prices.
So how will the country bill you, Bill? Make available ?socialized prices? to us poor Pinoys for your older generation software, or shell out royalties to the Pinoys technologists and artisans running the IT industries in G-7 countries? Either way, the funds can be used to purchase ?original? Windows and other cutting edge software for use by our schools and internet cafes with No Fear from the IPR police and their minions.
Meantime we appeal (on bended knee, no less) to the local powers-that-be to ?level the playing field? for internet caf?wners and our Maranao brothers selling pirated movies, MP3 discs and other software seemingly from every nook and cranny in the city. Not to condone the use of pirated software in internet cafes but at least, internet cafes are contributing more positively to the country and city?s Gross Domestic Product than the DVD vendors. Even for that alone, they deserve equal protection from the law as our Maranao brothers.
INDNJC-
Whether this raid had the blessings or not of the local powers-that-be, we had no way of knowing. Bottom line, once the OMB and its minions shut down cafes and stores using or trafficking in pirated software, a lot of people including a major portion of the city?s student populace would be deprived of their major source of access to PCs and the Internet.
Not to condone the use of pirated software but issues like this, as well as those involving the pirated DVDs so popular among the poorer segments of the populace redound to one thing: demand and supply and the elasticity of prices.
As any freshman student of basic economics knows, price is a key factor which affects demand and supply. The lower the price, the greater the demand. The higher the price, and demand falls off. True, RP software prices are among the cheapest in Asia but that?s cold comfort to the businessmen and users who still can?t afford such ?low prices?. However, unlike the drivers and operators of public transport who have no choice but to bite the bullet and put up with ever rising pump prices, your average computer user and internet caf?wner do have access to alternative sources in software pirates who provide them with the latest version of Windows at dirt cheap prices compared to what multi-billionaire Bill Gates and his minions expect us bankrupt Pinoys to pay.
We pray Bill can find some softness in his heart for us Pinoys on Chapter 11 so he can offer socialized prices for his older software which work just as well as the newer ones (for which Microsoft expects us to fork over an arm and a leg). After all, aren?t Pinoy artists and programmers who power the multi-media and communications industry in G-7 countries using original Microsoft Windows? These Pinoys, for whom poor Bill should be indebted to for creating such a huge demand for the latest versions of his pricey software, don?t bill Microsoft for creating that de facto purchasing bloc. Fact is, Bill should be grateful to these artisans for ordering tons of his OSM Windows and pay them royalties equivalent to a certain percentage of the sales they generate for him, say 10 percent?
After all, these Pinoys, more often than not, learned the rudiments of programming and Windows from internet cafes or at home, using pirated software they otherwise couldn?t afford to pay for at their ?original? prices.
So how will the country bill you, Bill? Make available ?socialized prices? to us poor Pinoys for your older generation software, or shell out royalties to the Pinoys technologists and artisans running the IT industries in G-7 countries? Either way, the funds can be used to purchase ?original? Windows and other cutting edge software for use by our schools and internet cafes with No Fear from the IPR police and their minions.
Meantime we appeal (on bended knee, no less) to the local powers-that-be to ?level the playing field? for internet caf?wners and our Maranao brothers selling pirated movies, MP3 discs and other software seemingly from every nook and cranny in the city. Not to condone the use of pirated software in internet cafes but at least, internet cafes are contributing more positively to the country and city?s Gross Domestic Product than the DVD vendors. Even for that alone, they deserve equal protection from the law as our Maranao brothers.
INDNJC-
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