Comm 296 Post: Microsoft in Russia

Why is Microsoft the most popular operation system in Russia? The answer to it is the marketing strategy that Microsoft used in the 1990’s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the borders of Russia became open to new businesses. As the computers started spreading into Russia, Microsoft found a great opportunity to increase its market share and make a profitable long-term investment. The company started supplying its operation system – Windows 3.1 and later Windows 95 at a really low and affordable price. But the main idea of Microsoft’s marketing strategy was to close their eyes on the illegal activities that were done with the operation system, such as making illegal or pirated copies of it. Knowing Russian culture and understanding that Russians like “halyava” (free stuff), Microsoft used this successful marketing strategy, and soon saw its results –Windows was installed on 97% computers in Russia in a few years after the beginning of the campaign. And then Microsoft started harvesting the crops which it had planted earlier – as the computers improved and required new operation systems (i.e. Windows 98), Microsoft started charging significantly more for its products; pirated versions were no longer valid as the same operation system could not have been run on 2 or more computers. Thus, the users in Russia that have been working only with Microsoft, were left with the only option of paying for the legal copy of the program, as almost none wanted to or even knew about other operation systems that were already on the western market (i.e. Apple).
Thus, through the use of an innovative marketing strategy, Microsoft acquired a large portion of the market share and made a long term investment that continues to pay off today.