Microsoft lets ‘Net cafes buy cheaper Windows licenses

By Erwin Lemuel Oliva, INQ7.net

MICROSOFT Philippines will allow Internet cafes to purchase the cheaper, original commercial equipment manufacturer (COEM) license for Windows, but for a limited time only, officials announced on Friday.

Microsoft said that this move was in response to the clamor from Internet shop owners who recently had difficulty purchasing the original Microsoft Windows operating system due to an alleged shortage of supply in the local market after a government crackdown on unlicensed software.

Microsoft Philippines licensing specialist Jasmin So said that the COEM for the Windows operating system will be available to Internet cafes and other consumers until November 30, 2005.

"The COEM licenses can now be bought by the public without the need to purchase the bundled hardware. This is in response to the clamor for Windows software by the public. This is one way we can help them," added Mae Rivera-Moreno, Microsoft Philippines PR and community affairs manager.

Microsoft Philippines has been going around the country for feedback from Internet shop owners after the government crackdown, Rivera-Moreno said.

Philippine distributor Wordtext Systems Inc. said last month that it saw a surge in demand for the Microsoft Windows operating system in September, when a government deadline to force local establishments to legitimize their software expired.

"We saw a 300-percent increase in sales order[s] in September due to the government crackdown," said Juan Chua, president of Wordtext Systems Inc. (WSI), a local distributor of software and hardware products in the Philippines.

The shortage of Microsoft's Windows operating system was felt in the last two to three weeks, Chua said.

The National Bureau of Investigation, Optical Media Board, and Philippine National Police entered a partnership with the Business Software Alliance for the enforcement campaign against violators of the intellectual property rights of its members, among them large software firms like Microsoft.

The anti-piracy campaign gave local businesses a grace period to stop using unlicensed software, starting August 15. The deadline expired September 15.

Last September, a newly-formed alliance of Internet shops initially known as the Progressive People's Net, asked government for a moratorium on the ongoing crackdown, considering the shortage of Microsoft software.

A statement by the Business Software Alliance said that it was up to law enforcement agencies whether to consider a moratorium on its ongoing crackdown on software pirates.

Meanwhile many Philippine Internet shops took down their billboards and closed shop in September when government began its crackdown on local establishments using unlicensed software.

With unconfirmed reports of ongoing raids of Internet shops in the provinces and cities, several Internet shop owners have expressed fear, frustration, and confusion over the government campaign.

One local Internet shop owner and president of a local association of Internet cafes in the Philippines said that the majority of Internet shop owners have been forced to close down because they simply cannot afford to buy new software licenses.


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First locally developed software for test checking, statistics making noise in Bicol


By melvin G. calimag, Manila Bulletin


A Bicol-based academician, with the help of his twin brother, has created what could possibly be the first locally developed computer programs for teaching statistics for beginners and test checking.

The software applications that Dr. Cesar Bermundo has developed are now deployed in more than 50 learning institutions in the Bicol region, with a few but growing installations in Metro Manila schools.

The two programs, dubbed "Test Checker and Item Analyzer" and "Simplified Statistics for Beginners," are sold to schools for R10,000 and R15,000, respectively. A manual, written by the twin brothers, as well as teacher training are included in the package.

The software venture of Bermundo, a computer science professor in a university in Bicol, started with "Test Checker and Item Analyzer" which served initially as a dissertation topic for his doctoral degree. The software, he said, is now 10 years old.

Later on, encouraged by the impressive reception of the test checker software, Bermudo expanded by creating two years ago the "Simplified Statistics for Beginners" application.

Bermundo, inundated by inquiries and requests for demos, enlisted the aid of his twin brother and fellow professor, Alex, to help him distribute and develop further the software tools for teachers.

Asked if they are open to selling the programs to large software companies that may have the capacity to further improve it, the twin brothers said this is not an option as of the moment since doing so would put the software beyond the reach of small, provincial schools.

"To be honest, we’re not actually after the money. We just want to travel around the country in order that we can train the teachers how to use the software," said Bermundo, when Infotech caught up with them during the recent National Inventors’ Week for Luzon celebration held at the Technology Application and Promotion Institute annex building at the DoST compound in Bicutan, Taguig City.

"We use the fee that the schools give us to as payment for the improvement of the software and as travel expenses. Gusto lang naman namin makapamasyal sa iba’t ibang parte ng Pilipinas," Bermundo said.

He said one of their main goals is to make the software available as much as possible to far flung schools so they can improve their educational system.

"Gusto lang namin makatulong at makapamasyal na rin. Pero minsan abonado pa kami sa gastos dahil sa layo ng school from our base."

According to him, a similar international version of the "Simplified Statistics for Beginners" costs as much as R180,000. "Moreover, that commercial software that we saw does not display the step-to-step process that we have in our software. This is important so they can see how the results were obtained."

In the user manual, the software was described as a useful tool to show and limit mathematical operations, computations, and procedure. It also has a pulldown menu where a user can select the necessary statistical tools and tables.

But the Bermundo brothers are especially fond of the "Test Checker and Item Analyzer" software because, as teachers themselves, they had to put up with the regular but burdensome task of evaluating test papers.

"Ang hirap sa trabaho ng teachers, hindi natatapos yung trabaho sa school. Inuuwi pa hanggang sa bahay ‘yung trabaho. With this software, we can at least make their workload lighter," he said, adding that faculty members and researchers have validated the effectiveness of the software.

The software, he said, analyzes teacher-constructed test questions by providing the basis for discussing test results by determining why a test item is or not discriminating between the better and poorer students, and by identifying alternative responses that are or are not functioning properly, thus providing a basis for item improvements.

On a higher level, the software can be used as a valuable tool for measuring the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process, the students’ level of achievement, and obtaining information for the relevance of the school curriculum, among others.

Bermundo said word-of-mouth recommendations have brought them all over Bicol and to several places, including Metro Manila. As of now, only Mapua Institute of Technology and Meralco Foundation Institute are the only Manila-based schools that have availed of their computer programs.

Though the programs are currently Windows-based, Bermundo said he is working on a separate version that would allow the software to run on a open source platform. This is in consideration of cost as well as the growing influence of open source movement inside and outside of the academic circle, he added.