company:microsoft uk

New head of Microsoft Ukraine believes in selling cloud solutions, wants to fight piracy
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/business/new-head-of-microsoft-ukraine-believes-in-selling-cloud-solutions-wants-to

In the aftermath of the EuroMaidan Revolution that toppled Victor Yanukovych as president, Ukrainian politics saw quite a few people with business backgrounds enter government service, with Dmytro Shymkiv, former head of Microsoft Ukraine, among them.

As Shymkiv accepted President Petro Poroshenko’s offer to become his deputy chief of staff in July, the Ukrainian unit of the U.S.-based company, known for developing the popular Windows operating system, started looking for a replacement.

On Oct. 17, the corporation finally announced its new general manager in Ukraine, Nadiya Vasylieva, who was its public sector director since 2012 and who acted as an interim head since Shymkiv quit.

Vasylieva has more than 12 years of experience in Russia-owned telecom provider Kyivstar, one of the largest operating in Ukraine, and another 2.5 years with Amway Ukraine, a personal care company that bets on direct marketing. She holds degrees in economics and law.

(…)

However, software piracy in the public sector is a major issue that has proved to be extremely difficult to deal with, she said.

"We want to be a European country, we want to have a fair court system, which would help to get rid of corruption and improve the economic situation. However, it appears that it all does not apply to the intellectual property. A deputy minister recently asked me: “If Microsoft has endured (piracy in the public sector) for 8 years, why can’t it wait for 10 more years?” Vasylieva said.

According to Vasylieva’s data, 83 percent of all software in Ukraine is counterfeit, while in the public sector this figure reaches at least 30 percent. Fighting the piracy in this segment is among the priorities of the new head of Microsoft Ukraine, however so far it has not been able even to get an official estimation of personal computers’ install base in the governmental offices. Moreover, in 2011 this information was classified by the Defense Ministry.

“Once the government openly shows us how many computers there are and what’s the piracy level, we’re ready to help (with legalizing),” Vasylieva said. “But so far they only want to argue over percentages — is it 30, or 40, or 60 percent.”

After the numbers are revealed, Microsoft claims to be ready to offer a long-term plan of standardization and legalization of the software installed in various governmental offices all over the country. Vasylieva said that in 2013, before the EuroMaidan Revolution, the company offered more than 25 percent in discount on its products together with “amnesty” for some computers after the government showed the first 66,000 PCs with pirated software.

The deal, however, has never been made, which means that some of the members of the new parliament and their colleagues in other state bodies will still have to work with illegal Windows operating system for a while.

IT pioneer announces candidacy for parliament with holistic vision for army and economy
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/it-pioneer-announces-candidacy-for-parliament-with-holistic-vision-for-arm

The prominent founder of a popular domain name registrar and website hosting company told the Kyiv Post he is running for a seat in parliament as an independent candidate. The information technology pioneer, Oleksandr Olshanskiy, didn’t specify in which of the 225 single-mandate races he would run. Initially, he said he expected to get elected under the UDAR party ticket led by Kyiv mayor and retired boxing champion Vitaliy Klitschko, according to a Sept. 11 interview with the Kyiv Post. 

Olshanskiy’s announcement comes on the heels of other visible technology business professionals joining politics. Among them are the former head of Microsoft Ukraine Dmytro Shymkiv, who in July became the deputy head of President Petro Poroshenko’s administration, and Viktor Galasyuk, who recently became an economic adviser to Radical Party leader Oleh Lyashko after heading the Bionic Hill innovation park project.

In addition to them, the CEO and founder of Ukrainian outsourcing software developer ELEKS, Oleksii Skrypnyk, together with entrepreneur and co-founder of Invisible CRM Vlad Voskresenskiy, are parliamentary candidates in Lviv mayor Andriy Sadoviy’s Samopomich party, holding the third and 24th positions on the list, respectively. Elections are scheduled for Oct. 26 with half the 450 seats being allocated to proportional party lists, and the other half in first-past-the-post single-mandate races.

Après cette revue des candidats issus du monde de l’IT, dont D. Shymkiv, déjà vu ici ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/290320, le journal passe au programme d’Olshanskiy (soit, Alexandre Olchansky) et c’est pas triste !

Known for his libertarian ideas and outspoken statements regarding politics, especially on taxation issues and the right to bear arms, Olshanskiy expressed caution and flexibility in his plans for working as a lawmaker.

“I’m saying things that are not peculiar to me,” Olshanskiy said. “I’m a libertarian with a right-wing deviation, […] but the situation today is so thin that unity may prove more valuable than radicalism.”

He continued: “Although not being perfect, the president in my opinion has all necessary qualities to do something. And parliament now must help him. It does not mean we don’t need to control him, but we have to give him a chance to do something…Because the country really needs reforms.”

Encore un chaud partisan de l’armée suisse, du port d’armes…

He wants to help the Ukrainian army adopt a similar structure to that of the Swiss army and on simplifying the tax code. “I don’t want to see the Ukrainian army similar to the Soviet Army. I’m for an army based on contract principles, but also for mandatory short period of military service and regular musters for all citizens,” Olshanskiy explained.
Other measures he supports are to introduce a system of pre-draft training for the youth, as well as loosening gun control restrictions.

… et bien sûr, un pourfendeur de l’impôt et de la régulation.

As for economic reforms, Olshanskiy wants to “stop the war that the government fights against business for the past 23 years.” The IT businessman wants to start with making taxes in Ukraine more transparent by extending the existing simplified taxation scheme, which is now available for certain business activities.

Staying true to his repeatedly declared values, Olshanskiy said that in the future he will also stand for abandoning the value-added tax altogether.

“VAT is the absolute evil for any economy, as is any implicit tax,” he added. “I think it needs to be canceled, and its propaganda has to be criminally prosecuted.”

Another measure Olshanskiy wants to introduce is a scheme that allows people and companies to pay their taxes directly to state-funded organizations.

“Let’s take the army as an example. If I buy them a tank, the army would give me a receipt for the amount I paid for it, and I would be able to reduce my taxes by this sum. It’s not charity, I’d just directly fund the state budget skipping the whole bureaucratic machine.”

In Olshanskiy’s opinion, this scheme can create a competitive alternative to the government apparatus.

Pour conclure par un hymne aux entrepreneurs des nouvelles technologies et un coup de patte aux politiciens professionnels.

“These people [from the IT business] are self-reliant, they’ve already done many things — and will do more. Their way of thinking is similar to that of today’s volunteer battalions [in the war zone] — if I won’t do it, then who will? Do you think Shymkiv dreamed of working in the president’s administration? I assure you that a seat of the head of Microsoft Ukraine is way more comfortable. If you don’t go to the parliament to steal money, you have to understand that it’s hard work.”

Y a du boulot, en effet !

400 Ukrainian presidential office staff could be laid off by November
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/official-400-ukrainian-presidential-office-staff-could-be-laid-off-by-nove

Major reshuffles and layoffs are expected in the Ukrainian presidential office by Nov. 1, and an electronic paperwork system should be launched starting 2015, Ukrainian deputy presidential chief of staff Dmytro Shymkiv said.

Au moins, il n’a pas été recruté pour rien l’ancien CEO de Microsoft Ukraine !
▻http://seenthis.net/messages/288048

Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies

►http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-Admits-Handing-over-European-User-Data-to-US-Intelligence-Age

Google has admitted complying with requests from US intelligence agencies for data stored in its European data centers, most likely in violation of European Union data protection laws.

Gordon Frazer, Microsoft UK’s managing director, made news headlines some weeks ago when he admitted that Microsoft can be compelled to share data with the US government regardless of where it is hosted in the world.

At the center of this problem is the USA PATRIOT ACT, which states that companies incorporated in the United States must hand over data administered by their foreign subsidiaries if requested.

Not only that, but they can be forced to keep quiet about it in order to avoid exposing active investigations and alert those targeted by the probes.

This situation poses a serious problem for companies like Microsoft, Google or Amazon, which offer cloud services around the world, because their subsidiaries must also respect local laws.

#google #patriotact