1,000 Rally in S. Korea Against Microsoft Prices

About 1,000 South Koreans, most of them PC retailers, staged a rally Wednesday demanding Microsoft Corp. lower the local price for its Windows 98 system software.

Protesters said the software giant was abusing its monopolistic status to keep prices high, a ploy that they said had led to software piracy in South Korea.

Ahn Dong-hwan, who runs a small computer maintenance service business, said Windows 98 was selling for $125.92 per copy in South Korea, which he said compared with $102.46 in Japan and $104.92 in Taiwan.

“The main victims of the increasing piracy are local computer retailers, as Microsoft frequently files complaints with the police that small retailers are selling computers loaded with unauthorized copies,” he said.

Microsoft officials in South Korea were not available for comment.