Consumer polls show a great demand for licensed software in Armenia, the reason being harmful pirated software, Grigor Barseghyan, Director of the Microsoft office in Armenia, told journalists Nov. 17.

Referring to the poll results, he said that Armenian consumers are now more actively defending their rights. Specifically, 65% of the respondents consider it necessary to purchase licensed software even if they are more expensive. Pirated software poses a threat – every third consumer faces a threat of losing personal data.

Barseghyan said that pirated software is harmful not only to the economy and company, but also to creative staff.

“Why is it that we have numerous programmers, but not creators of computer games? The same question concerns makers of films and cartoons. They are not sure their copyright is properly protected,” Barseghyan said.

Under the circumstances many things are not developing, as the authors are reluctant to create anything that would bring profit to others.