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No problem it's free for you...

https://reporting.bsa.org/usa/home.aspx?pr=1&CMP=KNC-google&HBX_PK=BSA&HBX_OU=50

go there to download a copy. I dont think they will have any back doors or call home software in it.

PS. if you have isos on the server to make your admin life easy... DONT. get all install software OFF the servers. a BSA audit will flag those. And they win in that argument.. you will never win.

Why borrow when the BSA will give you free trials

http://www.bsa.org/country/Tools%20and%20Resources/Free%20Software%20Audit%20Tools.aspx

That post is the best sane answer to this question. Well done for getting in first too!

I'd only add that a lot of countries have software associations that offer rewards for snitching on firms that use pirated software. The BSA has branches everywhere and even has a $1m reward scheme with an easy online reporting form (that one is for the EU, click from the homepage if you're from the USA).

Even with today's economy it might be worth your while grassing up your current firm for the reward money. You could use it to go back to school and get better qualifications; hopefully by the time you're done the outlook will be better too!

That post is the best sane answer to this question. Well done for getting in first too!

I'd only add that a lot of countries have software associations that offer rewards for snitching on firms that use pirated software. The BSA has branches everywhere and even has a $1m reward scheme with an easy online reporting form (that one is for the EU, click from the homepage if you're from the USA).

Even with today's economy it might be worth your while grassing up your current firm for the reward money. You could use it to go back to school and get better qualifications; hopefully by the time you're done the outlook will be better too!

That post is the best sane answer to this question. Well done for getting in first too!

I'd only add that a lot of countries have software associations that offer rewards for snitching on firms that use pirated software. The BSA has branches everywhere and even has a $1m reward scheme with an easy online reporting form (that one is for the EU, click from the homepage if you're from the USA).

Even with today's economy it might be worth your while grassing up your current firm for the reward money. You could use it to go back to school and get better qualifications; hopefully by the time you're done the outlook will be better too!

Ah, the myths of closed source development.

1. End users making their own changes but still complaining about error that may or may not be a result of their unauthorized modifications

Happens anyway. Users will request support about: '2nd-party add-ons, edits to scripts with headers that warn not to edit them and even binary patches (including No CD and Anti-DRM that they - the paying customer doesn't want you to know about. Do you ever wonder why the help desk insists on trying that you 're-installing in a clean environment' as part of the troubleshooting process?

They are users. If you sold needle-drugs, they'd file bug reports that injecting heroin into their eyes makes them go blind.

2. Afraid that other competitors will 'leverage' your investment

Get real. If it's that good, they'll steal it anyway. Ever seen a license audit at a large company? There's a reason they make middle managers sweat like their stock dropped before the options vest.

3. They don't want anyone to know that they 'leveraged' your investment

4. They didn't bother to patent anything and they're relying on being hidden

See number 2 above. Running strings on random binaries in corporate-ware packages is left as an exercise to the reader. Bonus points if you buy a piece of software with code access and find your own product(s) inside.

I also love the continual arguments for 'shrouded' or 'obfuscated' source. Was that function tag345() or object2345.method76()? Those arguments come up on code forums pretty much annually. It's like Usenet in September until someone points out the obvious.

To the assembler programmer and the hacker, all programs are shipped with source code. It just may not be in the (high-level) language you prefer to code.

So pick your license - or better yet contract - carefully but prepare to back it up with audits, lawyers and calls to that boogeyman, the BSA.

http://www.bsa.org/ It is completely anonymous.

Why would I - an open source advocate - suggest such a thing?

Because you're an open source bigot who wants everyone to do things like you do.

http://www.bsa.org/ It is completely anonymous.

Why would I - an open source advocate - suggest such a thing? Simple; Forcing people to use and learn from Linux (and thereby allowing Linux to learn from them in turn) is better than passively letting them steal MicroSoft products they can't afford which only improves MicroSoft's ability to leverage their installation base in illegally (in the US at least) anti-competitive practices. This will force MicroSoft to price their software at what its worth or make it worth what they charge.

Why would I claim to be a benevolent person who cares for the good of humanity with such apparently cruel intentions as forcing users to use Linux unwillingly? That answer is also simple but if you don't already know it then it is pointless for me to state it.

You may antagonize your superiors and be retaliated against. The threshold question is whether the risk of losing your job or getting your career stalled is acceptable to you. It's perfectly fine to let the matter lie if you feel your job may be at risk in this economy.

Of course, if you have evidence of such things, you can always contact the Business Software Alliance. Maybe you can get a piece of that million dollars to tide you over in your unemployment...

making it illegal for people to use the results of that labor without the permission of the person who performed it.

Oh hey, kind of like the situation we have now.

Oh yeah? And how's that working out?

We'll see what happens to his small business after the BSA raids and trashes his outfit because he used 2 pirated copies of Windows unwittingly installed by the Geek Squad tech who fixed his computers.

Hmm, the BSA vs. the military(yes, they use a LOT of Windows boxes and cannot possibly keep track of all those licenses) would be an amusing cage match.

Generally speaking if it's from a company on this list, or a subsidiary (VMWare is a subsidiary of EMC), then it's not free without sufficient other assurances like the GPL to protect you from their audits.

By installing software from this company you acknowledge you understand that we're a 90% owned subsidiary of EMC, a BSA member company and our auditors can come in to bankrupt you at any time if you can't prove on the spot that the license is valid."

Is there anything else you need to know about this? Really?

In other words, except for pirated software found in an audit of a specific company,these numbers appear to be as accurate as if they had beenn drawn out of someone's hat.

In other words, except for pirated software found in an audit of a specific company,these numbers appear to be as accurate as if they had beenn drawn out of someone's hat.

BSA report link

IDC Global Study Methodology Details

Economic Input Methodology

Comments on the contents:

1. Tone is funny. Does not pretend to be scientific, but rather a position paper.

2. Note, study does not include Server/Mainframe software.

3. Basically, they take the Sales Quantities and divide by Install quantities to get "Legitimate Installation" percentage. The install quantities are based on surveys from 100 folks in each state and extrapolated to the state level.

4. Open source software is theoretically included. It's fairly easy to track installs for this (assuming the interviewee's include these in their responses and are honest). However, I have no idea how the shipments end of open source would be calculated (seeing as most of it is likely downloaded). Thus, it's possible that open source is causing the perceived piracy rate to be increased, lol (note, it is stated that lost economic value of OSS is zero).

BSA report link

IDC Global Study Methodology Details

Economic Input Methodology

Comments on the contents:

1. Tone is funny. Does not pretend to be scientific, but rather a position paper.

2. Note, study does not include Server/Mainframe software.

3. Basically, they take the Sales Quantities and divide by Install quantities to get "Legitimate Installation" percentage. The install quantities are based on surveys from 100 folks in each state and extrapolated to the state level.

4. Open source software is theoretically included. It's fairly easy to track installs for this (assuming the interviewee's include these in their responses and are honest). However, I have no idea how the shipments end of open source would be calculated (seeing as most of it is likely downloaded). Thus, it's possible that open source is causing the perceived piracy rate to be increased, lol (note, it is stated that lost economic value of OSS is zero).

BSA report link

IDC Global Study Methodology Details

Economic Input Methodology

Comments on the contents:

1. Tone is funny. Does not pretend to be scientific, but rather a position paper.

2. Note, study does not include Server/Mainframe software.

3. Basically, they take the Sales Quantities and divide by Install quantities to get "Legitimate Installation" percentage. The install quantities are based on surveys from 100 folks in each state and extrapolated to the state level.

4. Open source software is theoretically included. It's fairly easy to track installs for this (assuming the interviewee's include these in their responses and are honest). However, I have no idea how the shipments end of open source would be calculated (seeing as most of it is likely downloaded). Thus, it's possible that open source is causing the perceived piracy rate to be increased, lol (note, it is stated that lost economic value of OSS is zero).

So do terrorist software pirates pay tax? Nope http://w3.bsa.org/thailand/press/newsreleases/IDC-Study.cfm
Well look who is in the same boat...

"the best way to avoid the BSA is to stop being a Microsoft customer"

Microsoft are far from being the only member of the BSA, so simply steering clear of MS software won't be enough -- people will also have to avoid using anything by the others on the BSA's member list:

http://www.bsa.org/country/BSA%20and%20Members/Our%20Members.aspx

OK, I went through all the "resources for IT managers" and "resources for employers" that they had on their website and I couldnt find anything about needing to save receipts. I must say that I really truly doubt that a receipt is needed. There are a million legitimate reasons you could obtain a license for free. They provide several checklists to make sure you are compliant and nowhere on there does it say you must retain all receipts indefinintly.

Everyone here is telling me I am wrong and modding me down, but I just dont see where this is a requirement. I do agree that IF it is a requirement then yes, it is ridiculous.

The BSA's website seems to indicate that they are looking only for licenses. (ie unique product keys) http://www.bsa.org/country/Tools%20and%20Resources/For%20IT%20Managers.aspx

If I am wrong, I will be happy to apologize here, but everything that I can find seems to indicate that saving receipts is not actually a requirement. (and I spent way more time looking thant I really should have on this) :)

• Offer a great discount on licenses.
• Whine loudly about unfair practices.
• Send the BSA thugs over to each school to do a license check.
• Update an agreement with the government forcing the use of Microsoft licenses on every computing devices.
• 'invent' different computer-related crimes that the schools has to be knowing about and therefore be responsible. Of course - provided by proxies like the RIAA.
• Silently change their licensing models to be even more obscure and confusing.
• Outsource more of their support to the government to any country where it's so impolite to say 'No' that you always get 'Yes' as an answer regardless of the question - and charge heavily for it.
• Create a telephone queue on the 900 support number that forces the users to wait for 30 minutes and £2 per minute while listening to annoying music before answering your call.
• Require all UK government support calls to be done to a helpdesk in California that's open only between 08:00 and 16:00 PST.
• Claim security threats and request that the streets around their office shall be closed to through traffic.
• Buy companies that have agreements with the government and then start to renegotiate the agreements.
• Release a critical security update that has a specific UK flaw that doesn't show up until after the next security release with an interlocking dependency that can't be fixed for another six months.

I can't believe I'm responding to this, but the outfit you're looking for is the Business Software Alliance, not the SBA.

Why don't you contact them, throw yourselves on their mercy, and let us know how that works out for you?

This article is replete with comments which assume that people who take items at gunpoint are desperate drug addicts of low intelligence. The association of force or the threat of force with paucity of wit is probably a manifestation of the poster's insecurity: a man stealing a laptop is likely the grunt input end of an organised fence->reburb->resell operation, just as the average programmer is the grunt input end of some business process.

Except that, as you imply, the highwayman is going to have to "become an expert pretty quickly" to avoid not just being caught, but the lethal force of retaliation; the worst a cubicle dweller has to fear is an embarrassing bug uncovered in testing. It's the kind of epic misunderstanding that leads to calling a suicide bomber "cowardly" - of all criticisms you could possibly bestow on a man who has decided that the best way to tackle some problem involves sacrificing his own life, cowardice is the least accurate.

"Imagine if you will Microsoft, Sun, and Apple were to get together and begin prosecuting those who infringe on their copyrights (ISOs of Windows, Solaris and OSX). However, it is *not* MS, Apple or Sun prosecuting, it is a thirdparty that was created as an industry group."

And let's imagine for a moment that they called this industry group "The Business Software Alliance", or BSA for short, and that it had a US web site at: http://w3.bsa.org/usa,
but unlike the RIAA, it operated at an international level. If such an organisation existed, it would probably also have an entry on the Internet's favourite toilet wall, which knowing the way Wikipedia tends to name things, would very likely be stored as: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Software_All iance.

The "NSBA" study in this case seems to be conducted by the National Software Business Aliance. http://www.bsa.org/

Do you see Microsoft attacking stupid little lapses in following the license when no harm is done? Most of the time you don't.
 
  Pardon me?

Makes me think of a (possible) new charity for people that want to support Free/OSS: a Chinese variant of the Business Software Alliance. Not the BSA itself perhaps, but some organisation that a) fights piracy*, and b) works primarily in China (or other growing IT-markets like India and South America).

If you support anti-piracy efforts in established markets like the US or Western Europe, I suspect targeted people/businesses would just cough up the money, and thus put more of that in the pockets of MS and the likes. But in places where most people and small businesses are short on cash, that would mean: bleed $ big time, or switch to free alternatives (the 'free as in beer' helping forward the 'free as in freedom' in this case).

Your thoughts on this, if it would be a good idea for folks that are considering a donation to a Free/OSS project? Donate to a 'Chinese BSA' instead? To help boost the number of Free/OSS software users there (and indirectly, elsewhere in the world, through increased use of open standards)?

* read: 'copyright infringement', the word piracy only used for brevity and common use (normally it involves ships & gunmen on the high seas).

[..] so that the pro-sw crowd (aka MS) [..]

Ok, you've got many PCs most of which run Windows XP. They've been crashing every Exploit Wednesday since October. Every one has a license that was paid for three times (six times under Software Assurance). You have seventeen core apps. Some of them are paid for several times. Some have a licensing server so that some people can use them when other people aren't, and come with a utility so that priority users can kick off nonpriority users. A couple of them are free. Four of them are nagware that came with your PCs or that you thought were a good idea at the time. One is an in-house app that only runs in a DOS box and accesses dBase files stored on your server. Every month a couple get pwned for no detectable reason.

Even if they don't run Windows you've paid over and over. You have to because they've made it happen what "enforcement" will happen if you don't.

Every software vendor you buy from makes it clear the software you bought is being split into "basic" versions that include most of the features you use, and an "Enterprise" version that includes must have features you can't live without. Both new versions will be annual subscriptions instead of purchases. Naturally, the Premium version you require will cost many times what you already paid and the cost will be annual rather than once each. Of course they're entitled to this conversion of your purchase into a "revenue stream" because they've upgraded their product from an application to a "platform framework" that "optimizes" your "TCO".

You're thinking about investigating this multicore thing that people are talking about, but it seems impossible to reconcile the software licenses with multiple "cores" on one or more CPUs. You want to do server consolidation, but every server app has to be evaluated both by a professional enginner and by a hideously expensive team of lawyers who also want to audit every piece of software you've purchased since 1974. Your CPA wants to know why you licensed the same software 3-6 times for each PC, and why you're buying licenses for software that won't run on the PCs they're purchased for. And what's this entry for "SCO Linux licenses"? You live in dread of being audited by jack-booted thugs, not because you're pirating but because the danger of a paperwork snafu that destroys your budget is nearly certain and the slightest discrepancy is going to get you canned.

I have one question: What the hell are you thinking? Get off the train to crazy town. The free stuff isn't just good, it's better. So much better that you're not going to believe you put up with this crap. If it's truly free you don't have to account for each copy/user/use/year/processor/incidence. It's not free because it's less worthy: it's free because you're not the first person to be disgusted by the experience you're having. Pay for support. Nobody ever got sued for terminating their support contract. Figure it out. The world has changed. The future is open.

The counterfeiters may not care, but it will deter businesses from patronizing them. By adding difficult-to-copy markings and telling the world about it, Microsoft lets businesses know those counterfeit "Microsoft" DVDs won't help a bit if they're audited by the BSA (not to be confused with the Boy Scouts of America ). Disgruntled (ex)employees will know about the counterfeit copies of Vista, and will gladly report license violations to even the score with their antagonists.

An anonymous call to these guys should do the trick!

Click here to turn in your employer. Select the button that says "I am reporting an organization using pirated software on its own computers. (You may be eligible for a reward.)". Or call, toll-free, 1-888 NO PIRACY. Operators are waiting to take your call.

There's even a PowerPoint presentation which explains all this, titled "Don't Play Roulette With Your Business" (And it plays fine in OpenOffice Impress.)

Also, print out this Microsoft article about "reduced functionality mode", which is where your pirated version of Microsoft Office will probably end up after a while, unable to create new documents.

Click here to turn in your employer. Select the button that says "I am reporting an organization using pirated software on its own computers. (You may be eligible for a reward.)". Or call, toll-free, 1-888 NO PIRACY. Operators are waiting to take your call.

There's even a PowerPoint presentation which explains all this, titled "Don't Play Roulette With Your Business" (And it plays fine in OpenOffice Impress.)

Also, print out this Microsoft article about "reduced functionality mode", which is where your pirated version of Microsoft Office will probably end up after a while, unable to create new documents.

http://www.bsa.org/usa/

2. Get the order to violate copyright and patent law, plus violate license agreements, in writing. You write it out. Get your boss to sign it. Make sure it explicitly states that the boss is choosing to break the law. Tell the boss that he has asked you to break the law, and you will only do so if he signs it. If he threatens to fire you, remind him that the law protects the jobs of those who refuse to violate the law. If he signs, go to 3. If he gives in, then you're okay. If he fires you, go to 5.

3. Write the owners or every member of the board of directors, as appropriate for the type of company. If they give in, you're okay. If not, go to 4. If they fire you, go to 5.

4. If they still insist, do it, then write the BSA. I can't stand them, but you can get reward large enough to keep you happily unemployed for a year or more while you search for a better company to work for. If you get fired, still go to 5. Otherwise, feel happy that you have punished stupid management.

5. If you are fired for refusing to break the law, contact a local employment attorney. You have an open-and-shut case. He/she will work on contingency, meaning you won't pay up front, (s)he'll just take a percentage of the settlement/judgement.

www.definetheline.com:

You might not realize it, but copying commercial software without permission or downloading it illegally is stealing. It's time to "Define the Line" between sharing and stealing when it comes to computer software.

Stealing or pirating commercial software is getting out of control on college campuses. Students may think using the term "sharing software" makes it all right, but it doesn't. Reality check: it's "stealing software."

Downloading software may contain viruses which could crash computer systems and could put you at risk with authorities and your school.

Just say no.

The BSA's latest study says $200 billion in software will be pirated in the next 4 years. Is software piracy "theft" like robbery is "theft"? If the software publisher prefers people to steal their software rather than use alternatives, how is that "theft"? Does the jewelry store prefer that their diamonds get stolen rather than having the thief wear cubic zirconia? http://www.bsa.org/globalstudy/upload/2005%20Pirac y%20Study%20-%20Official%20Version.pdf [PDF]

They are not a government agency. they are a private firm and you can tell them to pound sand when they show up at your door.

Ever seen a BSA raid? Good luck.

Ever read the EULA on MS office? Windows XP? They will be quick to point out that the agreement gives them permission. They also know you are using a copy because a disgruntled employee told them you are using a BSA members software product.

Let's face it. Very few places are 100% BSA members free.

Here is a list of the membership. Please note it when you use NDIS wrappers for the driver your wireless laptop. You may be using a members software. It's not just MS.

http://www.bsa.org/usa/about/BSA-Members.cfm

Here's the threat. The Business Software Alliance already can come in and audit companies for bootleg copies of Microsoft software. If they've forced their way in to do an audit anyway, and they find "unauthorized copies" of Microsoft-claimed "IP" - which is to say, Linux running - then in the future they can try to levy the same penalties against you as they currently do for running more copies of Office than you can produce licenses for.

From our perspective, this absolutely has to be stopped. But the BSA already has the legal authority to get in the door in many cases, and once they're looking at your systems for Microsoft wares, they'd better be checking the Linux boxes for Word running under Wine anyway - so checking them for Linux is a minor afterthought.

2) however, if you want to look at another industry that has had similar problems, look at the BSA, The Business Software Alliance. I'm not sure where they get the authority, but they do occasionally do raids on business and require that the business prove that it has legal licenses for all the software they use.

From what I've heard, in many cases even having the original media and license sticker things has not been deemed to be sufficient proof of ownership, and businesses have been forced to purchase additional licenses even though they had a seperate copy of the software for each computer it was installed on. However, I'm not certain of the details here, so I could be wrong.

at first i wanted to ask "why is novell still shelling out money, then ?"
i bothered to check, though : http://www.bsa.org/usa/about/BSA-Members.cfm

novell has disappeared from there, probably because of their move towards or linux (or maybe they just noticd that bsa isn't helping them much).

symantec and a couple of others who probably will get killed soon by microsoft are still there ;)

I'm reluctantly running a pirated version of Windows and can't get caught no matter how hard I try.

Here you go!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=K1H7omJW4TI&search=trus ted%20computing

Who will decide for them what is trustworthy and what is not? Are they going to have a backdoor? I suppose the BSA http://www.bsa.org/ just got a new enforcer!

It's not Fedora (or Red Hat's) fault that the licensing of those products and the US Laws on those subjects are so anal. Welcome to the age of DRM, patents and vendor lock-in due to the 2 previous reasons.

If you didn't know in the USA you are not allowed to reverse-engineer or even include software that is reverse engineered. You are not allowed to import it, export it or use it. Thus MP3, WMV, AAC support or the DRM-versions of it can not be included in a distro for/created in the USA. If you do, you get massive lawsuits or treated as a terrorist. You can of course go and ask permissions and pay big bucks to Fraunhofer/Thomson, MS or Apple.

Welcome to the Nazi world of the 21st century where the Fuhrers are big companies and the Gestapo respectively SS is represented by lawyers and government. Oh, you can of course always rat out at your favorite kamerat.

I thought I had read Planning the future of piracy at Microsoft..

The rebels will be hunted down and the young Andersson will be one of us.

This version of the Barratry Star is invincible, apart from having large enough holes in its hull armor to drive a ship through, literally. Who would ever dare to challenge the IP Empire ?

Come on folks, think about it, Microsoft is the BSA (Buisness Software Alliance). $15,000 for each 'copy' of Windows... Bigger net, faster returns... when they just run a simple query where the ID is = and count is greater than 10, $150,000 in one shot, one visit. Now imagine a company of 8,000... They just want a mechism to get some serious cash...

As for new computers, yes the Big Boys preload, but not all PC sales have Win preloaded. From http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-5561113.html

Last quarter, for example, Microsoft saw revenue in the Windows client unit grow by 5 percent, but PC shipments grew more than twice that fast.

The study found that 35 percent of software worldwide is pirated. In North America alone, the piracy rate for software is 22 percent.

Anyways, just think how much of an impact Linux has had on computers with only a sub-5% market share, and then just imagine how much more influential it will become as the numbers grow up to and over 10%...

There's a huge difference between perceived loses & real loses.
They appear to be taking a page out BSA's book to reach such conclusions.

Using the entertainment industry's analogy, every P2P download represents a lost sale,
& it sounds & looks good to the average Politician!

Now if we use an example the flaw will become apparent.

Example: If Photoshop's latest version get's downloaded via P2P 100,000 times does
that mean they lost those sale's?

Answer: At $649 US a pop I very mush doubt it!

Being generous I'd guess only 1% to 2% of those 100,000 people would truly pay
$649 US for Photoshop if that was the only way they could get it.

I think it would be safe to say the true cost of Piracy isn't $250 billion, but closer to the
$2.5 to 5 billion mark anually.
In all likelyhood the U.S. government will spend more than that amount each year hence
forth in fighting Piracy, thanks to the lobby groups mystical figures.

what does the BS stand for? BSA = Business Software Alliance, members include Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bentley Systems, Borland, Cadence, Cisco Systems, CNC Software/Mastercam, Dell, Entrust, HP, IBM, Intel, Internet Security Systems, McAfee, Microsoft, PTC, RSA Security, SAP, SolidWorks, Sybase, Symantec, Synopsys, The MathWorks, and UGS.
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This time no sig...