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Microsoft to Get Tough on License Dodgers
An anonymous reader writes "PC Advisor reports that Microsoft is going to start getting tough with certain small business customers. They are going to examine their small customer license database — any discrepancies and it will call you for an audit. If you refuse it will send in the BSA and the legal heavies. "
You know its bad when they send the Boy Scouts of America after you.
I know a few small businesses that abuse the MS license to make PROFIT and I think it's about time that MS does a crackdown on those businesses.
They should put more effort into cracking down those real business abusers who are making profit on the back of MS than the stupid broken WGA which annoys lots of innocent home users.
Bring 'em on.... Bitches.
because we all know what would happen if they started with the big ones.
Microsoft would use tanks and heavy artillery instead of just the BSA - Boy Scouts of America?
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
I don't understand why I can't have my cake AND eat it. That is such a stupid saying, I mean it's my damn cake ffs.
What? You mean like if there were an operating system these companies could legally license for free, and maybe an office suite to go with it, they could save a lot of money? Yeah, I'm sure Microsoft will suggest that.
Sports Crasher Monthly further reports that stadiums are also require receipts for all clothing worn by spectators. If a spectator is unable to provide a receipt, the stadium will provide a service for renting a clothing license for the duration of the event. Larger spectators, or those with many garments, can qualify for discounts in their licensing fees.
Imagine being able to tell the Microsoft auditor to fuck himself/herself, and when the big heavies show up, all they see are peace lovin' penguins fluttering around the office with no short and curlies to grip on to.
Oh the horror!
Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!
. . . they sent three big Eagle Scouts over to beat me into submission. Now I have to walk with a cane. Pay your license fees, people. It's not worth it!!
"If your parents never had children, chances are you wonât either." -Dick Cavett
"Will MS compensate businesses for the time they have to spend proving that their copies are legal?"
A lawsuit works both ways. The plaintiff can become the defendant very easily if one is not careful.
Will they compensate? Doubt it. Do they compensate for massive worm/trojan outbreaks that cripple businesses from coast to coast as a result of using their software? Why would they compensate in this case then when the scale is much, much lower on the visibility radar?
BSD is designed. Linux is grown. C++ libs
Chances are that if you stole the software, you're in violation of the EULA, in which case that right of theirs disappears. How's that for a loophole!?
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
If their solution is disagreeable, use other software.
I still can't see what gives them the right to assume guilt until innocence is proven. They demand an audit based on their perception that you haven't bought enough of their software, and AFAICT they act as if this gives them a right to waste your time proving your innocence. Why on earth is software a special case here? It would be impossible to run a business if every industry sector behaved in the same way.
*knock knock*
"Hello?"
"We're from the Business Furniture Alliance, representing Office World, Staples, and several other major furniture retailers. According to our clients' records, you haven't purchased enough office desks to run a business of this size. We suspect you've been stealing your office furniture from one of our clients."
"Not that it's any of your business, but we got a local carpenter to run up some desks for us..."
"A likely tale. We're going to have to audit your furniture. I hope you have a few days free."
"Kindly bugger off and d-- hang on, who's that?"
"Good morning sir or madam, I'm from the Business Carpeting Alliance. Our records show that..."
No, the thing is, you divide the cake into two equal parts. Then you eat both the parts.
It's not that hard to halve your cake and eat it, too.
I hereby place the above post in the public domain.
Since when did the Boy Scouts end up on MS' payroll? Oh, wait...maybe if you change enough Wikipedia entries, you get a new merit badge.
Depending on your digestive system, you can eat your cake and still have it for up to several hours afterwards.
Actually, some of the atoms from the cake will be absorbed into your bloodstream and wind up distributed in various parts of your body, where they might stay for years (even until the end of your life).
A cake is more than just a mixture of certain ingredients, it's a structure. The moment you bite into it, the structure starts breaking down. So we can reduce this to a semantic problem: at which point in the breakdown process does the cake stop being a cake? I would argue that this happens when it's chewed up and swallowed, but it's hard to draw a clear line.
Buy me another cake and I'll tell you more on this subject.
What UK law allows any use of force by private organisations in civil cases?
None. They bring the sheriffs to handle that for them.
The Windows EULA.
(No, seriously -- that's the basis on which they claim their authority. The idea is that, by installing Windows, you agree to let them extor...err, "audit" you.)
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
It's a stupid saying. I've had my cake and ate it. Even after I ate it I still had it. Nobody made me cough it up. I still had my cake for a few more hours, then I blew it out my ass.
Then I didn't want it any more....
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