Looks like Microsoft’s piracy woes in Asian countries is not going to end very soon. Even before Microsoft has officially* begun ^[1] retailing copies of Windows 7 ^[2] DVDs in India, the bootleggers are already offering pirated copies of Windows 7 ^[3] for sale for Rs 50, or approximately $1.20.

That is way below the retail price of Windows 7 ^[2], which is priced at ^[4] $219 for the Home Premium version, and $120 for the upgrade to the same version. This might come as a huge blow to Microsoft, who have yet to set a foot in the Indian market with Windows 7 sales. Of course, owners of bootlegged copies may not be able to activate their copies of Windows, but you can expect a workaround for that too.

Quite sometime back Microsoft had offered to sell Microsoft Office for $29 in China ^[5], this again was done to tackle the software piracy in China. Microsoft is also offering Windows 7 at a discount of up to 40% in India ^[6] to curtail piracy, but will it work? Only time will tell.

* Microsoft has currently put the sale of Windows 7 on hold in India, due to the upcoming Budget, where the taxes on software may be changed.