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Ernie Ball - Model For Open-Source Transition?

Posted by simoniker on from the minus-the-piracy-bit dept.

fr0z writes " Ernie Ball is a company that makes guitar strings. After being raided by the BSA in 2000 without warning and fined $100,000 for a few unlicensed copies of software, CEO Sterling Ball vowed not to give another cent to Microsoft and within 6 months, according to CNET News, had the whole company switched to Red Hat Linux, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla, and other free software."

7 of 869 comments (clear)

  1. .. and decided to pay SCO instead... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    ... vowed not to give another cent to Microsoft and within 6 months, according to CNET News, had the whole company switched to Red Hat Linux, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla, and other free software ...

  2. Uh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Sounds to me like he got what he deserved? They just gloss over the fact that he was undeniably stealing software with no explanation.

    Oh, and btw there's a difference between "a few" and a "few dozen", automatically made me skeptical of the poster's motives after I noticed the difference.

  3. who the hell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    who the hell bends over for the BSA? .. bunch of
    wanna be banana republic junta motherfuckers ..
    i'd love to see them try that shit with a company
    that has a few lawyers up their sleeves .. bully
    boy assholes .. fuck the bunch of 'em

  4. And the sad thing is ... by johnburton · · Score: 1, Troll

    The sad thing is that they may well turn out to be using even more illegally licensed software now if sco manage to actually win.

    --
    Sig is taking a break!
  5. Re:More raids please by fitten · · Score: -1, Troll

    Heh... so he likes the fact that they can't download stuff to use on their machines. Sounds kind of draconian in the end. You will use your machine for nothing but work! I have had bosses that tried to do similar things in the past and all they really did is cause folks to leave the company because things were so strict and you basically couldn't take breaks anymore other than pushing back from your desk and staring at the wall for 10 minutes. Of course, the people who are most able to get other jobs move on first and the people who can't, stay. People will find a way, and even pride themselves in their creativity, of jacking the system using breaks and finding ways to goof off. Sure. The amount of time these folks may work may go up but the quality/productivity may go down so the net result will be a loss.

  6. Re:More raids please by paganizer · · Score: 1, Troll

    Installing XP in a production environment? you must be flippin' insane.
    Win2k pro, NT4 workstation, even win2k3 (Insane, but not beyond redemption), but XP?

    I shudder when I think about it.

    FREENET=FREESPEECH (Even if it is kind of busted right now)

    --
    Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
  7. Linux? by Transcendent · · Score: 0, Troll

    Well he won't pay microsoft a penny... but the SCO might hit him even harder.