Microsoft finds no piracy in Dunedin software sweep

A negative shouldn't really be a news story, but thanks to one of the world's largest companies, here we are.

Microsoft reports its investigators came up empty when searching for evidence of software piracy in Dunedin.

Clayton Noble, the company’s Australian-based legal counsel, says that was a first for New Zealand. Usually the company’s investigative sweeps find something.

Auckland not squeaky clean on piracy front

When the company conducted a similar investigation in Auckland last year it found six retailers selling counterfeit software.

In truth New Zealand is one of the least piratical nations when it comes to computer software.

The Business Software Association – effectively a Microsoft controlled anti-piracy organisation – says three out of five computer programs used in the Asia-Pacific region is unlicensed – the global figure is 42 percent.

New Zealand is not a pirate nation

In its most recent survey the BSA found New Zealand’s piracy rate is just 22 percent. That’s the third lowest of all the countries surveyed and just behind Japan on 21 percent and the USA on 19 percent.

What, perhaps, makes the New Zealand attitude to software piracy even more remarkable is that in some, but not all, case, Microsoft charges local customers a hefty premium compared with prices in the US. And when you take New Zealand's lower income into account, the affordability gap is wider still.

This all matters because there is some evidence that piracy is more common in places where software prices are high relative to local incomes.