Microsoft Corporation announced it was about to launch a one-way licensing program for Russian non-profit organizations and NGOs.

According to the company’s press service, the new one-sided license will act automatically on behalf of Microsoft and cover the software already installed on the computers of non-profit and non-governmental organizations as well as on those of some small-sized independent media. The license will be valid through January 1, 2012.

‘Microsoft has been donating software to Russia through its InfoDonor program since 2009. The program allows non-profit organizations and NGOs to get up to fifty user licenses for six different products out of a vast catalogue of the most advanced software available for donation,’ says Inessa Grikurova, the supervisor of Microsoft’s strategic programs in Russia.

All in all, Microsoft has donated over $500m worth of software to 40,000 organizations all over the world in the last financial year.

In addition to launching this new one-sided license which will give Russian non-profit organizations and NGOs an opportunity to gradually switch to licensed software by January 1, 2012, Microsoft will also consult these organizations and small-sized independent media if they want to see whether their software can pass the genuine validation test.