Would You Install Pirated Software at Work?

An anonymous reader asks: "I am an IT professional, and due to budget constraints, I have been told to install multiple copies of MS Office, despite offering to install OpenOffice, and other OpenSource Office products. Even though most of the uses are for people using Excel like a database, or formatting of text in cells, other programs are not tolerated. I have been over ruled by our controller, to my disagreement. I would never turn them in, but I am in tough place by knowing doing something illegal. I want to keep my job, but disagree with some of the decision making on this issue. Other than drafting a letter to the owners of the company on how I disagree with the policy, what else can I do?"

Comments

Re:Ignore the law. Support your employer.

[Simonetta]

So Simonetta, what exactly do you do for a living? If you refuse to pay my company what we ask you to pay for our software, then why should anyone pay you and/or your company for the work you do?

  We make medical equipment. If you need our stuff, and you don't pay us, you die.

  If we don't pay you for the software, we get to use the software anyway. And if you don't get enough money from selling your software, you die.

 
If you don't agree with the price my company wants to charge for our software, you have exactly one choice: don't buy it and don't use it.

      Actually, we have two choices: that is the point of this discussion. We can chose to pay you, or we can chose not to. Either way we still get to use the software. And if you don't get enough money from selling your software, you die.

    You knew that the software business was like this, and you chose to make a career in it anyway. Don't waste your time trying to force people to pay for software. Better for you to come up with reasons to pay you for your skills and expertise that don't rely on unenforcable laws.