Microsoft has been in the news lately only for its bid to buy yahoo and we have covered that news in every which way even in a bollywood kinda way on WATBlog. Now it seems Microsoft India is taking serious steps in India to uplift its core business i.e. microsoft software be it XP, Vista, Xbox or Office.

Inorder to curb the piracy of these software which is quite rampant in India (you will easily get a windows xp CD for 2$ on Mumbai roads) Microsoft has launched an ecommerce portal called Buyoriginalms.com. This initiative is in partnership with Smile Interactive Group which used to own Quasar (and sold 75% of it to WPP) and Redington India Ltd, the distribution partner.

Now one might say “big deal!” How would an online ecommerce site combat piracy when the rate for the software remain the same?

Brian Campbell, director, Original Software Initiative, Microsoft India tries to answer that question, he says “We expect the portal to help significantly drive uptake for original software since customers in the remotest parts of India will now be able to easily purchase competitively priced Microsoft software, online. The launch of this portal also provides our partners with an opportunity to expand their business model and thus garner greater revenues. In addition, it provides an unparalleled opportunity for bloggers to retail original Microsoft products through their websites.”

But why would bloggers sell original microsoft products?

Well microsoft has also provided a web partner page in which it invited bloggers to embed the BUY NOW button on their blogs and incase users click on those buttons and come to the microsoft site and actually buy any product then bloggers would be given a commission for the same. For those who know such model is called an affiliate system. Bloggers can also set up Microsoft Shopping Carts within their own site.  They can do all this after registering as an affiliate.

On the whole this does seem like a me too move by microsoft which is trying to ape the success google and firefox have had with a similar affiliate structure. There is no information on how much incentive bloggers would gain but one thing is for sure avenues and opportunities for bloggers to make money are opening day by day. I wont be surprised that the next in line to do this kind of affiliate marketing is the entertainment music and movie business which go ahead with digital downloads.

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