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How the BSA Squeezes the Little Guys
netbuzz writes "Actually, 90% of the Business Software Alliance's revenue is squeezed from small businesses accused of using unlicensed software. A lawyer who represents some of them says his clients often suspect that it was the IT guy who just left — and was responsible for maintaining the licenses — who ratted them out for a big BSA reward."
I would like to thank editors for giving us all another chance at first post on this story. I missed it a few hours ago - wish me luck this time!
ccalam - acoustic versions of new songs.
I thought that this has always been the BSA's standard business model.
I could've gotten a reward when I left? Damn, I wish I'd known that at the time... : p
This guy's the limit!
Of course, the "IT guy" probably doesn't have any recourse if management decides to obtain unlicensed software while employed. Personally I think it's fairly idiotic for businesses to not be completely above-board when it comes to software licensing.
My experience with small/medium businesses has been that the CEO/CFO don't want to spend the bucks necessary to get everybody legal and the poor IT guy gets stuck having to ignore the problem or find a new job. To the defense of C-level guys, I did work for one 1000-person company that had a very ethical CFO who insisted on being compliant. The exception that proves the rule, I guess.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
I was worried there that this was a story of pedophiles in the context of the Boy Scouts of America.
Wow. So you're telling me there's some big "association" of people that are out there trying to sue the "little guy" for piracy because its easier for them to settle instead of some protracted leal battle?
What's next, suing for downloading music?
I am certainly not saying that all software should be OSS, but at what point do companies decide to get out from under the hell that that we call Microsoft? I mean I dont remember Apple pushing out BSA nastygrams? Oh wait, Apple actually upgrade their products routinely with features that people are willing to actually pay for....
1. Get fired for sloppy licensing.
2. Rat your ex company out to the BSA.
3. Profit!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
A lawyer who represents some of them says his clients often suspect that it was the IT guy who just left -- and was responsible for the maintaining the licenses -- who ratted them out for a big BSA reward.
(1) BOFH tells bosses they really should pay up for legal licences.
(2) Bosses tell BOFH to make illegal copies.
(3) Repeat a few times.
(4) BOFH gives up and finds another job.
(5) BOFH shops former bosses.
If this is a surprise to bosses who instruct BOFHs to make illegal copies of things then really it's amazing how they're bright enough to stay in business!
"... his clients often suspect that it was the IT guy who just left -- and was responsible for the maintaining the licenses -- who ratted them out for a big BSA reward ..."
People responsible for licenses in some manner are not eligible for the reward. IT guys doing this are disgruntled and just trying to "get even".
Keep in mind that small business was not chosen merely because they have fewer resourced available to defend themselves, but they were also the worst offenders. Betting that their size would keep them under the radar of Microsoft, Word Perfect, Lotus, Borland, etc back in the day. I'm not defending the BSA's actions, but their targeting is not entirely devoid of reason.
When when you skimp on salaries, make a hostile workplace, and generally make life hell, don't be surprised when your employees (or ex-employees) are not looking out for your best interest.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Infinitely more likely it was the poor I.T. guy, denied access to funds to legitimise the software in the company, and unable to do anything about it with the threat of no job over his head, who finally either found a way out, or was creatively dismissed, and is now either being scape-goated, or maybe he was that pissed off he really did turn them in.
I don't believe for a second the company wouldn't know if large amounts of their software wasn't paid for. It's very common for small time I.T. guys to be, for example, pressured into installing the same software multiple times on machines, with no corresponding license, they may even be told by the boss that it's fully licensed, but you can bet your ass the boss wont take the blame if anything happens.
Any I.T. guy with even the tiniest clue would purchase all software if given the ability, and wouldn't risk his career on installing unlicensed software unless they were pressured into doing, most likely with thought of losing their job.
It's one of the biggest reasons more and more places has under qualified I.T. staff.
The qualified ones don't want the crappy pressure laden jobs, or aren't offered them as they'll be more picky about licensing.
The under qualified ones will take the job, but then feel stuck in the belief they can't get much better, and won't be able to afford the cost or time of further training.
I've seen it happen a lot, despite knowing the problem in advance it ended up happening to me after, and I still keep seeing it today after getting the hell out as my advice was simply never taken, despite it being what I'd been employed for. It was the subject of a slashdot article years back when I was stuck in a job-from-hell too.
I'd imagine something vaguely similar (but not likely to do with legitimate software, just general I.T. problems) has contributed to the UK's recent data protection issues too.
The previous story was a repost of an 5 years old news, this one is BRAND NEW.
Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
Admittedly, I missed out as a kid. I never went through the 'I want to be a fireman' phase. No endless days are spent in horror realizing that, as I approach 30, I will really not become the pilot, policeman or professional soccer player of my childhood dreams, for I had none. I always envisioned myself still playing with lego all those eons later. Since I am a programmer by profession, it could be argued that this is actually the case. I will let that subject rest for now.
It's not that I don't realize that, by saying this, I am actually showing the world how pitiful a character I am, sobbing over a surrogate lost childhood dream, but I really have to express it if I want to feel somewhat sane ever again: I want to join the BSA! These are the real men of noble blood, in their shiny uniforms, protecting the intellectual property rights of the poor unsuspecting software giants, defenseless against the malevolent forces of evil software pirates, who are bottom-feeding on these companies' revenue streams as we speak, probably within a 100-yard radius of your house!
Before you think that I am trying to fantasize away years of social repression and torment by projecting myself into membership of a totalitarian copyright gestapo, let me tell you why I think it is important to protect intellectual property rights: If you don't pay for criminally bad software through the nose, you will never realize how much you are being ripped off! Just think of it! All those home users and small offices running pirated copies of Windows and Office, they are the silent backers of the Microsoft near monopoly. Let them pay $500 on operating system licenses and $20 per seat licenses for using email from their WebTV like the rest of us would, had we been lobotomized and not running BSD or Linux.
I went to the BSA website. What an interesting read! Billions of dollars of revenue are lost to pirated copies of commercial applications. Imagine a world where millions of companies were given the choice between actually paying for the odd ten thousand dollars' worth of bug-infested agonizing doofusware or going for a quality free software solution that isn't being pushed on them like bad cocaine! How wonderfully nice does all this software, currently labelled "Not ready for prime time yet," actually start to look! Programs that have been under development shorter than it took Microsoft to figure out that DOS is not a good base line for a graphical operating system suddenly look "promising" again. Bliss, I tell you!
Unfortunately, there is no "jobs" button on the homepage. No mention made of job openings, not even for volunteer positions. I would sacrifice a weekend every month to this worthy cause of making losers pay till they bleed for the executable excrement they so worship! Hey guys, if you are reading this, contact me! I want to join your army of the twelve monkeys and sail the seven seas to weed out all those evil software pirates!
Also, I want to congratulate Microsoft on their decision to move to a subscription system for their software. The best way to make people realize that they are being ripped off and spat upon is not just to give them crappy applications; The secret is to make them keep paying even after they die! The subtle never ending pain is an important part of the message and I'm glad Microsoft are realizing this fully now.
Anyway, be aware that I am now a self-appointed BSA Auditor. Don't make me catch you running an unlicensed copy of Windows 2000 or, heaven forbid, Exchange Server! I will give you seven days to erase the illegal data off your harddrive. On request I will supply you with a Linux or BSD CD to recover the lost functionality or the address of the nearest Microsoft dealer to quote you on the small fortune you will have to pay to better your evil copyright violating ways. Pirate!
I went thru three different employers where upper management *ORDERED* the IT guys to install the same copy of MS Office on all computers in the building. At the last job, I snagged an email off the server where the CEO was discussing the issue with his CFO and basically said that if they ever got caught they would feign ignorance and lay the blame on the IT guys "doing stuff behind their backs" and installing software without their executive permission. This was a few years ago, about the same time that the BSA started running radio advertisements and putting up billboards all over the Dallas/Fort Worth area to get employees to turn in their bosses for software piracy. I left that job as fast as I could, and now work in IT for a small city government near the D/FW metroplex where our own police department is now the ones who are so eager to pirate software.
*Sigh* It never ends.
force a company to allow an audit or "investigation"?
What do they do when a small business owner says, "I use strictly Linux on my computers, no, you can't come in and look around, go pound sand."
I just jumped ship from a mortgage servicing company to a MS-owned company.
:)
The Mortgage company had a site-license for Windows XP, but didn't buy licenses for pretty much anything else. They were using burned CDs for office, someone's son had found a cracked version of Domino and Notes and that was deployed. I think there was 1 license of Adobe Acrobat 8.0 that was used on 60+ machines. I brought it up with the IT director and he said there wasn't anything he could do, as the CEO/check writers wouldn't outlay for software ever, and they were lucky to be running XP at all.
Now I work at MS, and we don't really have to worry about licenses
well, at least for MS products.
I think this brings up a bigger point or perhaps a few. I don't argue for a second that most the reports might be from employees who just left the company. But what I don't agree with is the person themselves didn't keep the licenses up to date. They might have been responsible on paper but did they have the budget, process and resources to do it, this is the key question. I've seen it more times than I wish to recall that a new project or new employee is brought on board and the IT person has only a couple of hours to get them setup. No time for new keys and no budget for this new persons IT resources. If at the start of the year I'm told I need 100 licenses for a piece of software I'll get it. If half way though the year the company expands and we now need 200 I can almost say for certain in most companies I've worked in (small companies) they will not give me the budget for the extra 100 and the IT department will have to cut costs somewhere else or just not buy. It might even been why the employee left the company in the first place and why they are ratting on their old company. Seams like a perfect payback to a poorly managed company.
I think I need to go out to the garden for a while.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
you missed it from about 2004 and well as 1999, when it first occured.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Am I the only one that saw the headline, thought "Boy Scouts of America" and then thought I some how was mistakenly taken to a pedo site?
Wouldn't it be cool if some disgruntled worker gets fired from the BSA and then turns around and rats the BSA out to the BSA? He'd have to get a reward, and the BSA would have to charge itself a hefty fine.
Personally I think it's fairly idiotic for businesses to not be completely above-board when it comes to software licensing.
True. You might also question the wisdom of businesses that insist on software that comes with hard to track licenses and owners that offer cash rewards to employees that report mistakes. This is just one of the many ways non free software betrays it's users. You would think people would know better by now.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
welcome our dupe posting overlords
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
So yah, we just had a discussion less than a few hours ago on this.
This is a slightly different slant on the other article, but it's funny how this comment about cheap clients plays into this new article.
So the IT guy leaves and rats out the business for stealing software. First thing that pops into my head is it must have been some pretty fucked up bosses to work for to motivate someone to take it as far as snitching.
Of course, i'm going to get the normal "OMFG YOU'RE NOT A SLASH FANBOI!" dipshit comments from this.. Bring em.
Maybe if these bosses didn't value their employees as low as the software they steal, there wouldn't be a problem with them quitting and going to the BSA.
BTW if you're bored with these BSA stories, here's a story I submitted a few weeks ago about hackers bypassing the hypervisor on the PS3 for access to the Nvidia RSX GPU. I thought that story was way more signifigant than these BSA stories because once the X drivers are finished, game dev's can use linux for free to create PS3 games instead of paying sony a wad of cash for a dev kit. Maybe it got rejected because slash thinks rehashing the same shit stories with different headlines is news.
At the risk of saying something completely obvious (this is Slashdot after all), er, use Free Software (and Linux). Yeah, I know. Even if you paid the MS tax to run Windows, there's still loads of OSS stuff you can legally run without having to pay anything extra. I'm certainly not paying hundreds of dollars just for the questionable benefit of being able to view Word documents using MS Office.
Feel free to point out obvious flaws here.
Of course, companies are always going to blame the "disgruntled former employee." But how many of those ex-ITs were responsible for the software BUDGET? Most companies have a policy: They limit employees to licensed software and budget accordingly. But others, with a more lax management attitude, are no doubt telling IT what they want installed and "just do it." Yeah, the former IT person is going to know the company isn't properly licensed. But I'd bet that 98% of the time, he/she didn't have the authority OR the budget to demand company compliance either.
It goes back to: If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. Management is going to have a hard time putting it on an ex-employee when their own spreadsheets show they never budgeted for software upgrades. Then they have to plead that they're so stupid, they didn't understand their own budget.
It's an important reminder to not allow ANY company to pressure you into illegal activities of any type or sign off on same. And make sure you keep good documentation such as any emails regarding purchase (or refusal) of commercial software. Because if it's someone else who blows the whistle, management is going to roll you like a drunk.
If you've never been modded as "flamebait" or "troll," you've never tried to argue a minority viewpoint here!
Shareware was made by programmers when the terms "open source" or "free/libre software" were unknown. There was no such thing as the Internet, or e-mail. Programmers coded for a living, and sold programs for a living. I remember the times where all PC computers were 386, ran MS-DOS, had 32MBytes of RAM. Programming was mostly considered a hobby except for large enterprises (i.e. Lotus, Borland, Microsoft, and such). Most hobbyists didn't pay for programming languages - they were pirated because they were too expensive.
You logged into BBS's whose phone numbers you found on specialized magazines. Meetings were held with the 5 or 10 people in your area, and paid-for software was seen as a valuable treasure. Owners of that software would share it with their friends, and the original discs were treated as some kind of ancient artifact which belonged in a museum.
That's how you learned to program back then. You pirated the language, and eventually you began producing stuff worth selling. Then you bought your first legitimate copy of the language.
That's how things were done those days. It was rough, primitive, but fun at the same time. It was the way of the Old West.
In the files sections, you downloaded all these utility programs (hard disk optimizers, text editors, quit-smoking organizers and such) that expired in around 30 days, and you could register them for 5 or 20 bucks. It was cheap, and reasonable.
These small-scale programmers were defenseless against crackers and pirates, who didn't retribute them for their effort. So they turned to the BSA to help them punish the thieves who just stole their software.
It was how business was done back then. Getting organized at a national level to make good software for free was unthinkable. You had to charge for your code, and it was OK. To program, you had to actually buy software. I remember how expensive was to purchase a copy of Borland/C++ or Turbo Pascal (with Turbo Vision!) so you could make decent programs. It may sound like heresy in the G++ times of today, but that's how it was.
It was rough, primitive, but fun at the same time. It was the way of the Old West.
But times have changed.
We have GNU and the Free Software/Open Source licenses now - and software is being developed by teams of independent programmers working for a common goal: Freedom (I'm relatively new to GNU/Linux, and I was awed at the amount of Free/Libre Open Source Software for Linux). I compare my GNU/Linux box to my close friends' windows boxes - often filled with "freeware" and paid-for/cracked shareware developed in Visual Basic most of the time, and I can't even start to describe the difference. It's all chaotic and primitive in the Windows world.
When I go to a webpage and see a Windows app for say, transferring your ipod files to your computer, or ripping/burning a CD, I see the price tag and think: "Are they kidding me? They charge for THIS STUFF?"
The BSA and old software business models (just like the RIAA and MPAA's) are going the way of the dodo bird. They have no place in the open world of today.
Another problem is that license servers (including Windows client licenses) don't always work reliably, or if they work they don't actually match the license you're actually using (either because they don't support it, or you can't figure out how to configure it, or they won't let you reconfigure it if you get it wrong).
So even if you're in compliance with the license, the servers think you aren't... so you either buy more licenses or you bypass it.
Of the $13 million that the BSA reaped in software violation settlements with North American companies last year, almost 90 percent came from small businesses, the AP found.
To paraphrase Anatole France, "The BSA in its majesty makes no distinction between rich and poor; both are forbidden to install unlicenced software."
Of course they attack small business. Big business has the money to fight back with armies of lawyers.
Three Squirrels
This isn't just about Scoutmasters - here's how National HQ screws the little guys.
They are a manufacturer of guitar strings. I seem to recall an article (perhaps even posted to /.) about them getting stung by the BSA. The responded by deploying Linux and going to open source software.
;)
As I recall, it worked out well for them.
Then again, perhaps I should take the time and google "Ernie Ball" and see if my memory is correct
A goal is a dream with a deadline
Idiots! That's Funny not Flamebait.
I notice the Criminal Mind at work every time I converse with our boys in blue. A friend of mine had to leave a good city government network guru job rather than pirate software for the cops. I guess being above (or beneath) the law is a god-given perk of the job.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
I have occasionally heard the Business Software Alliance (BSA) commercials on late-night talk radio on AM radio stations. It offers listeners large cash rewards for turning in software piracy offenders such as their employer. I don't recall all the details, but it sounds like an offer that would be especially appealing to disgruntled employees or recently fired employees (assuming their employer uses pirated software). Any small business owner hearing that commercial would probably wonder if they have any disgruntled employees that might turn them in for the large cash reward.
I do not own a small business with computers, but when I heard the BSA commercial, my thought was of all the software which I have purchased over the years, but did not keep the receipts. I realized, if the BSA were to ever come knocking, I would need the receipts to prove that I am not a software pirate. At that point I felt a sudden revulsion to the whole idea of commercial software and felt a strong desire to find free open-source, GPL licensed software replacements for those few remaining commercial software programs that I do use. Each time I hear that commercial, I feel a strong urge to get those companies software off of my two computers. By the way, at home I have one Linux computer and one Windows computer. My Windows computer has mostly free open-source GPL licensed software on it instead of the usual Microsoft Office and other commercial software on it.
What the heck, I'm on lunch anyway
http://www.news.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html
A goal is a dream with a deadline
Hate to interrupt your Apple gushing, but Apple is a member of the BSA. Kinda like record labels and the RIAA, or the movie studios and the MPAA, Apple subsidizes and strengthens the BSA to enable these kind of activities.
I know I shouldn't feed the trolls, but as far as your Apple upgrading is concerned, explain to me why I can buy a gen 1 Zune and upgrade it for free to use gen 2 firmware (opening up wifi access and getting all the normal goodies) but I can't get the latest firmware on my 5th gen 30GB iPod.
How is prosecuting people for stealing your software 'extortion'?
This is taking the slashdot pro-piracy meme too far. I run a (one man) company, I use legit software. It can cost a lot, but you weigh up the pros and cons and you buy it. Poser cost me $600 plus maybe another $300 of add ons. Its the cost of doing business. It's no different to paying for the desk, my PC, the heater in my home office or the phone bill.
I have zero sympathy for small businesses that would try and undercut me by stealing software. Fuck em. let them be prosecuted. It's not like people really do not realise that photoshop or visual studio isn't freeware.
I'm all for slashdot readers posting about how companies should use open source free software so they don't have to deal with this, but how can you defend people who KNOW there are free alternatives, but decide to steal a copy of an office suite anyway...
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
Comment removed based on user account deletion
...Wish I'd thought of that. I really wanted to shove it to my old boss.
Oh well.
Mmmmmm... Bold, yet refreshing!
BSA = usually means Boy Scouts of America.
at first glance: BSA "squeezes" "little guy" - ohh, bad thoughts...
The BSA considers software pirated if a company can't produce a receipt for it, no matter how long ago it was purchased. Software boxes or certificates of authenticity are no help.
And some times the certificates of authenticity or the key on your systems case is the only receipt. What about software / hardware makes you send in the receipt for rebate or warranty?
What even happened to innocent until proven guilty?
Small org or large, why do they continue to labor under the mistaken assumption that they are well served by dealing with vendors who treat their customers like criminals? All the more reason to switch to friendlier vendors and/or open source software.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
Yeah, me too. Cecil knows your pain.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_201.html
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
I'm not quite sure really how the BSA has any legal authority to demand a licensing audit from a company. All the companies I've worked for I've always promoted as much open source software as possible(7-zip instead of winzip, filezilla, gimp, etc...). If there just isn't an easy alternative then I've always suggested to an annoying degree that the company actually pay for the software that they are using, and they've all complied. I did have a BSA guy call me a few times and show up at the doorstep of the company once, and I told him to come back with a warrant. We never heard from them again. Ever since then, I tell the secretary to come get me if someone's downstairs asking about software or licensing.
The company has paid for it's licenses and is totally legal, but I'll deny the BSA the right to audit unless a court tells me differently.
and quit not because of who they are working for but because they pissed off all their coworkers already and new faces to start over again. Hell there have been many people we practicaly CHEERED when they finally left.
Its hostile because they, the quitter, made it that way. Tell me which is more likely, an office full for twenty hostile people and one good person or the other way around? Which one quits and then turns in the company for fraud?
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Small businesses have no spare time, much less any time to burn fiddling around with all this. This sort of thing is what makes people think "Maybe I should try that free stuff again".
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Doing some actual research into how they do the rewards, it is hardly ever a $1 million reward as they advertise. It is actually scaled based on the settlement the BSA makes with the offending company. If the settlement is $15,000-$100,000 you are only eligible for a $5,000 reward. Not as much motive there when you read the fine print. The company has to pay a settlement of $15 MILLION or more for you to be eligible for the $1 million reward. Also there are all kinds of stipulations and abilities for the BSA to back out of paying you anything whenever they feel like it. Sounds to me like a sham and I bet people hardly ever get any reward money while the BSA rakes in the cash from settlements.
"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Tennyson
I need closure on that anecdote.
While I would agree that the small business owner plays a role, the IT staff play a bigger one. Most shops of less than 10-20 people will not have their own IT staff. In these cases, you often have someone come in and create the network and set things up, but nobody is there to do day to day tasks. A side effect is that no employee is likely to even know that they should be keeping detailed records of software purchases and use. You can see this even more in companies that grew from a single person.
Ex: A service business was started eight years ago by a single person. They have the owner and two other employees in an office as well as a dozen field techs. Who manages the software? In all likelihood they contract for someone to do ocassional work. Furthermore, can we really expect a business of this size to have the receipt from when the owner purchased a copy of Photoshop five years ago for his laptop when he was the only employee?
To be reasonable, we have to expect that almost all small businesses will not *technically* be in compliance even if they legally purchased all their software.
Hello, I want to rat out my employer, because:
1-I need money
2-I hate my employer
3-I believe that they are stealing and it would be moral to stop it
How do I do it?
From Windows IT Pro
I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
Everyone has their own opinion... I am certainly not an Apple freek, but I can say that they have done wonders for the technology industry... Right now they are the one who are pushing the innovation in the technology industry... IPod.. IPhone.. Also, Apple certainly has a history here...
:)
As far as looking for your iPod firmware, why would you need to look for it? It would have been automatically pushed thru iTunes? Also, Apple traditionally is one who does not release a product most of th featues are function, unlike that company that makes that Zune...
Listen, everyone is different with what they want. For me, I wouldnt use a Zune even if you paid me to take it off your hands, but I am also one who does not care to pay $2K for a 17" MacBook Pro. Meaning, if I feel there is added value in any product, I will pay whatever I feel is reasonable.. And I can tell you without any doubt that I am hugely more productive with my Mac than I ever was with any high end Windows Laptop... I would agree that OSX probably is 90% of this benefit which is why Michael Dell wanted it on their laptops, but I think Apples hardware is quite solid....
I'd just like to point out this Google Ad on the Slashdot homepage as I was reading this:
Company Steals Software?Earn up to $1 Million for Reporting Software Piracy - All Confidential
www.BSA.org/reportpiracy
Thank God for evolution.
Thats why all these software companies offer software but sell support services or trying to sell Network based apps. Software companies are trying to adapt.
Another issue arises with shareware programs: almost everyone I worked with in two fairly large corporations had a copy of WinZip but I only ever had one person admit to having paid for it. In both of these corporations, neither the officers nor the IT folks had the time or people to track down these types of license violations.
As one of the frequent contributors states in his/her sig: "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."
Hmm...
BSA refuses to disclose the source of their information; RIAA files ex parte sub poenas to get their information
BSA goes after small businesses because they have no leverage; RIAA goes after high school and college kids because they have no resources
BSA doubles or triples their settlement offer with respect to the original license costs; RIAA offers non-negotiable flat settlements which leave the defendant open to further lawsuits
Both are bullies, plain and simple.
I've found, as an IT guy, that unless the business is so strapped for cash that they're building their own boxes, you can usually browbeat upper management into getting into compliance, or at least *arguably* into compliance ('well, we only RUN one of these virtual machines at a time, so we only need one license of Win2k3 Server").
A lot of times, IT directors/managers are either unaware that they are out of compliance, or are unwilling to be firm about the need to be in compliance. And in my opinion, either one of those is a sign of a poor IT manager.
Of course, an alternate explanation is that the IT guy purposely let the company go, and then left and reported his self-made mess for a reward. Which I wouldn't put past certain people.
-fred
Sign #11 of Slashdot overdose: You see the phrase 'moderate Republican' and you wonder if that would be a +1 or a -1.
Try finding the receipt for the energy-efficient windows you put in your house 10 years ago or the receipt for the air conditioner you put in 15 years ago so that the IRS won't bitch-slap you for claiming an adjusted basis so you can pay lower taxes when you sell your house ... most people don't have any problem managing those receipts, do they?
... you just have to care about it before some whistle-blower turns you in.
No, the only real problem is that most businesses don't really expect to ever have to go through an impartial software license audit so they play fast and loose with licenses under the theory that if software companies really cared about license compliance then the software wouldn't let them do anything wrong. That's the same theory Enron's accounting auditors had.
It's not hard to come out of an impartial software license audit smelling like roses
Apparently some NY pawnbrokers http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9801E6DA133AE633A25757C2A9659C946396D6CF&oref=slogin/ had the same concerns you do about not being allowed to keep stolen property they had paid somebody for.
As to your main question, I am not a lawyer but I am reasonably sure that what makes the audit lead to a different outcome when you have the receipt (for software that doesn't come with a uniquely-scoped license key) is that it would remove "mens rea" (as regards criminal charges related to the "theft" of "IP") and provides you with plausibility with regards to any civil charges.
Deleted
Also, apple is part owned by micro$oft... Same owners, same behaviour.
"How the BSA Squeezes the Little Guys"
For a second I thought the title of this article was very, very disturbing.
Why would the businesses pay if they were not using pirated software?
Anyone who can't document the software they bought and paid for has no business in business. The BSA is nothing, anyone stymied by this most elementary of accounting tasks is eventually going to get a red hot poker up the ass from someone with real power, like the IRS.
I get really sick of business owners bellyaching about how terrible the business climate is. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. If you can't keep the box and receipt for your copy of Office, you might as well queue up for a job at Wal-Mart because that's where we're all going to be working eventually anyway.
I would also point out that Apple has absolutely stellar marketing. Apple pays a order of magnitude more on advertising than on R&D (so does Microsoft, I'm not pointing fingers) and it shows.
"all PC computers were 386, ran MS-DOS, had 32MBytes of RAM"
Thats one hell of a lot of RAM for a 386...
I was ordered to copy the OPERATING SYSTEM to all computers in our office.
I sure hope Linus Torvalds isn't a BSA member. We'd be so screwed!
The BSA is great advertising for Linux. Thank you.
The Slashdot moderation system, which affects maybe a quarter of a million people in total (maybe), leads to a society-wide shift in behavioral patterns?
Unlikely.
This lawyer is way off base. I worked for a company considered small that had $100 million in revenue when I worked there. When I traveled from office to office across the US to set up servers I could see so many of these offices using illegal software. It had nothing to do with the small guy IT guy. It had everything to do with the big guys knowing that it was happening and not doing anything about it and not funding legit purchases of it. In other words, they knew about it and did nothing to stop it, even if it was facilitated by the IT. But I don't blame the little IT guy. What most likely happened was that office workers, the engineers, the accountants, etc all bought into bringing in their software from home and installed it and the IT guy was just a witness to the whole thing. The IT guy probably reported it to his boss and expected his boss to report it to their bosses, etc.
This guy is an ass because he's trying to put blame on the one person in the company that tried to do something and was most likely fired because he made the attempt. So, in response to the firing he turned them in. Hopefully, what the IT guy also did was report them to the local news so that people in the community know where the real thieves are.
Big businesses when caught just comply and purchase licenses. This small lawyer probably doesn't represent the big company and that's why he represents the little companies.
You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
And software piracy is rampant. It's the rule, not the exception. I should note that I'm not speaking of poor students (which is a given), but researchers, professors, etc. I find this greatly disturbing and refuse to pirate software for my group... though I'm asked on a constant basis to "find" software. I tried explaining how stealing software is as egregious as stealing someone's academic work, but that had little impact. Now I just wait a day or two and say "nope, can't find it". It's a sticky situation when your employment is at stake and becoming an evangelist can hurt your work or lose you a job.
I like, on a personal level, all the members of my group. However, if they were asses I could see how one might play it low key while working for them, but turn the thieves in after being terminated or leaving.
I'd like to note, I'm fairly morally forgiving on the pirating issue. I don't blame curious, poor students or home hobbyists for wanting to try out software but not having the 1000's to pay for it (or even the 100's for a student version). But if your making your career off of a software suite, it should be included in your business expenses.
I have worked for two small companies (less than 50 employees) in the last few years. Both are in the same niche industry. At the first one, I was shocked to find that the boss not only cheated on software (Office, Photoshop, Indesign, Dreamweaver, etc), he also cheated on taxes, on immigration (I immigrated here from the US a few years ago), and on occupational safety and health. It bothered me (especially the last one, since my office had asbestos), and I left over it and a couple of other factors. Now, I work for to his competitor, and this new boss cheats on software, taxes, immigration, and health and safety. I told him that it bothered me and I was considering to leaving, and he said, "Go ahead, but this is the only way to stay in business in [our major western European city]. Would you like a 500 euro under-the-table bonus to stay on?"
I looked around at several more businesses and could find quite a few that would to hire me, but none were willing to go through the necessary steps to legitimize my employment with the immigration office (it is a pretty expensive process for them). Then it dawned on me. Cheating on these things is so endemic that my boss probably would go out of business if he tried to go legit. I really do feel bad for the software developers who aren't getting paid for their work (I've been in their shoes), but what are we supposed to do about it? We've got to earn a living in the system we are in.
Posting anon for the obvious reasons.
Your CEO can feign all the ignorance he wants. As the principal corporate officer, he'll still be the one held legally liable, not you IT grunts. Sounds like he's truly ignorant and not faking anything at all.
I remember back even farther than that to the 8086 and 8088 chips when computers had 32kb or RAM and you were lucky if you had a 10MB MFM or RLL hard drive.
I think the issue is that the software companies like MS, WP, Borland etc. all manipulated the early markets by basically turning a "blind eye" to sharing software. I seem to remember they were all just short of openly endorsing it. They used it to build mindshare and build a name.
In the case of MS, when they hit 80-90% marketshare with W2k they started to close the door and crack down. I think it was just a matter of running out of market. If they wanted to keep growing sales figure they had to start mining the base that never paid. It's interesting that at the same time, Linux started to break on the scene. Maybe free (as in beer) software isn't such new idea after all. We went from the DADT (Don't Ask Don't Tell) license to the GPL.
BSA != Microsoft. Apple is a member of the BSA also. /. people don't like somehow get linked to Microsoft? Place the blame where the blame belongs...
Why is it everything that
"But this one goes to 11!"
I remember the times where all PC computers were 386, ran MS-DOS, had 32MBytes of RAM
No, you don't remember. PCs were 386 and ran MS-DOS back in the late 1980s/very early 90's. Back then very few PCs had more than 2MB of RAM; 4MB at most, and that cost an arm and a leg ($1000+). With the 640KB DOS regular memory limit, there were few programs that used extended memory for large datasets to make more than 2MB useful. AutoCAD and Lotus could. Use of 4MB or more didn't happen until the advent of Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups which allowed you to more easily run more than one application. This was circa 1991-1993, and even then it was pretty rare because it was still quite expensive. 32MB didn't become common on non-server PCs until well after 1995.
Unless you're going to backpedal and try to claim that Windows 95 "was MS-DOS" underneath. That would also be wrong since MS-DOS was only used as a boot-strap loader for the Windows kernel. MS-DOS wasn't a "32-bit protected-mode" operating system like the Windows 95 kernel, which did the real O/S work when the GUI was running.
Oy, if only I hadn't squandered me moderation points this morn'n'. +1 und'rated
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
If someone were so inclined, they could build a Knoppix-style live CD that would scan the network looking for a server (possibly running some other live CD) and copy all of the useful files onto it, then encrypt the local HD and let the user proceed with a bunch of open source programs. All the BSA audit would find is a bunch of Linux apps.
Such a distro would not be a drop-in replacement for an Exchange server, but it would be a good start. The people who would benefit from this approach would have to take some precautionary steps to ensure that the cutover would be smooth. That said, the technology to defeat a BSA audit exists, but not in a super-convenient form. Not yet, anyway.
for all of my licensing needs.
No kidding...my first x86 computer was a 486 DX4-100 (I stuck with my old Apple IIGS until then), and the most RAM I ever had in that thing was 8MB. 4MB (this was around 1997) was around $200 back then too.
M$ a true innovator?? ... Yes, M$ LIVE is a true innovation breakthru!!! I hope you dont honestly believe this coolaid talk... You are right, though. All M$'s products are loaded to the gills with features... Damn buttons and menu's all over the place... Also, most of M$'s business groups only exist simply because they are allowed to "rape" the industry with their forced monoploy of windows and Office. The funny thing about this is that M$ still honestly because people are "exited" to buy VIsta. Talk about out of touch...
:)
Also, on their recent IPhone... Please name who was doing multi-touch on a phone or any device for that matter? Without the ability to have the display sense multiple fingers at one time, the interface would not be very useful... (And they knew this, which is why they didnt release a device before it was developed) They even did a damn good job with the scratch free surface implementation as well... And M$'s knee jerk reaction to Apple's multi-touch technology? Surface!! Talk about funny!!!
The whole point of shareware is that the program announces how to pay its maker. Those who choose to pay, pay. Those who choose not to can continue to use the program (perhaps with less functionality). You can't pirate shareware because it wants to be copied to as many people as it can. You can, however, pirate a serial number.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
Wouldn't it be smart to assume that if these business owner treated their employees a little better and not belittle or possibly not under pay that they would probably not get reported to the BSA if they didn't have enough licenses or are using pirated software?
I worked for a company that treated me fairly, purchased necessary items I needed to secure/support the network and showed a care for it's employees that is rare in business sometimes. I'm sure they have some violations that the BSA might consider wrong and would want to pursue, but I wouldn't think of turning them in because of the good treatment I received from them. They had to give me a layoff because of slowing work, and could do so with how stable I made their (before I was employed) unstable network but I feel no Ill will toward them, they had to do it to survive. The general manager still calls from time to time to see how I'm doing or if they have a problem. They pay for me to come out and fix the problems, but I'm not getting rich off them. I do it because of the fair treatment I received and because I know they are in tough times going from 200+ employees to around 15.
Now go to my last employer. He treated me like crap. He was irrational in his demands, thought process, and business techniques, to top it all off a childish behavior. When I first started working for him he acted like the sky was the limit but delivered nothing. He had major issues relating to his height and would try to belittle anyone he could, later claiming he could do such things because he's "the boss". If he was violating any licenses or using pirated software I wouldn't hesitate to turn his butt in because he needs quite a few lessons in what it takes to make a business successful.
So when the article says that people know or suspect former employees it is no doubt that they can figure it out because they know how they treated that employee. It's their conscious that tells them who turned them in.
It sounds like a case of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", or if that's to religious, "What comes around, goes around".
Funny, I thought the same thing. Also, I don't remember seeing many boards with 8 RAM SIMM slots back then... or any 8 MB sticks... Ahh well, that's what schizophrenia is for.
Not the only reason. The bigger the business, the more people have direct knowledge of license cheating, and the more people are IT-savvy enough to figure it out...the probability of keeping the secret becomes asymptotic to zero. Big business knows what it can and can't get away with.
rj
Nokia and I believe Samsung both had phones with touch interfaces before the iPhone. I don't know if they can handle multiple fingers. They even did a damn good job with the scratch free surface implementation as well. The iPhone is not "scratch free". The very first thing I did when I touched an iPhone in the Apple Store was drop it and scratch the screen (which was already scratched up). It's got a very good scratch-resistant coating, but it's not as good a coating as I've seen on a few other devices. I've got a universal remote somewhere with a glass screen top that is MUCH more scratch-reistant than the iPhone. Compare the screen on the iPhone to the screens on many PocketPCs and you'll see that the PocketPCs are about the same. And M$'s knee jerk reaction to Apple's multi-touch technology? Surface!! Talk about funny!! Surface has been in development for many years. I saw a demo of something similar at MS research back in 2000. That same year I built a kiosk with a far more sophisticated touch interface than the one in the iPhone.
You didn't even mention the most innovative feature about the iPhone, the web browser (which is rebadged Konquerer). It's the first cell phone that I'm aware of with a really good web browser. The way the tilt sensor allows you to change the aspect ratio at will is also very handy.
As I said, Apple is very good a packaging innovations, but in reality they do very little that is truly original except industrial design. I would not agree that, for example, the candy-colored iMacs really represent a technical innovation.
Six years ago I was the I.T. Director for a manufacturing firm. I had numerous arguments with the company president about software licensing and how we were dancing on the edge of disaster. I finally left in disgust.
Once I'd left I contact the BSA and told them what I knew. A few days after my first contact they called me and told me they weren't going to pursue. The reason they weren't going to pursue is because the company was on shaky financial ground.
So if you're going to pirate, make sure you're financially unstable.
Prior to coming to the company I'm at now, this exact situation happened. The IT budget was severely underfunded but the COO wanted NT4 servers, workstations, and MS Office. Being unable to purchase all of the software they needed, he essentially used pirated copies of everything. He was later summarily booted from the company on some non-related issue and went straight to the BSA. They fined my company (a small non-profit cancer research center) $200K, told us to destroy all copies of the software and uninstall them, purchase all new licenses and submit to random audits for a period of two years. Since that happened and I arrived, I had to still fight for my hardware budget, but they never argued when I brought up what I needed for software.
Not to nitpick, but I owned Turbo C++ and Turbo Pascal. They were about $100-130 each. Sure, most computer programs were $30-40, but it still wasn't that expensive.
And 386s with 32MB of RAM? Maybe there were some, but they hardly grew on trees. Christ, most hard drives back then were 40-80MB. My 4MB RAM upgrade cost me $400, so 32MB on a PC? Come on.
And there certainly was email. I ran a WWIVnet board, and another BBS in town had FidoNet (seemed overcomplicated for the end user). Sure, it took 7 days for a message to get from Michigan to Mexico, but it got there.
his clients often suspect that it was the IT guy who just left -- and was responsible for maintaining the licenses -- who ratted them out for a big BSA reward."
The fact of the situation in this is that with many companies doing everything they can do to trim their expenses...is it really any surprise that the IT person in question will protect themselves till they can find another job? In addition...have worked in several companies where they treat their employees like crap...so is that another surprise when the BSA knocks on the company's door? Karma is fun to watch on the person(s) who deserve it...but revenge is even better for those who deserve it all the more.
Usually...the ones who will reply to this by calling me deluded/persecuted are the ones who are the managers/executives in question at the companies where this happens.
I don't know that you are being exactly fair here. Research.microsoft.com is certainly fantastic. But the fact is that when it comes to Microsoft's core products they are very very conservative about new features. Conversely apple aggressively puts technology out into people's hands. When people talk about microsoft they often don't mean the research division but rather their core products and here I do think product for product (apple has far fewer products) Apple is much more innovative.
WFT are you talking about.
He can fire you, you can quit. Perfect balance.
That's only an imbalance of power if it's harder for you to find a job then it is for him to find your replacement.
If the balance isn't on your side you should have paid more attention in school. Perhaps your purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Background:
The company was formed with this Mr. Rocheford's idea, and his dad's friend's money. Mismanagement and overspending ensued, and very few sales went ahead. The cash started to run out. Mr. Rocheford left the company under dubious circumstances after requests for more funding were turned down by the owner of the company.
- The firewall/ISDN was sabotaged.
- The desktops were corrupted.
- The company laptop was stol^h^h^h^hmisappropriated by Mr. Rocheford.
- The owner's company email was used to send threatening mails to various local persons.
- The laptop was returned with the bios password locked and no method for resetting it (dell inspiron) so was unuseable. No password ever provided.
Within a week I got a phonecall from the BSA saying that they were coming to audit the office for software licenses. I told them to go and stuff themselves, and get back to me with a court-issued warrant before they would be let set foot inside the office doors. Thankfully in this country (Ireland) the BSA has zero legal standing for attempting entry and search. To get a warrant, there has to be probable cause and a sympathetic judge. Add to that, a civil group cannot serve the warrant anyway as it is only the gardai (police) that can effect such a warrant.I got a further call from a supervisor later that day requesting that I self-audit and issue them with the proofs of purchase and licenses for them to decide whether or not to prosecute.
I told him to go away (much less politely), and that if I received any further communications from them I would have them sued for harrassment. I said to him that if they wanted to pursue the company for auditing, thet they were free to make a complaint to the Gardai, and I would happily facilitate the Gardai at that stage.
I knew for a fact that the licenses for the O/S and office suites were legit, I was just so pissed off at the insistence of the BSA's representative in Ireland that I was a criminal in was can only be a civil matter.
I heard nothing more from them after that....
Apparently it was said to me later that year after being made redundant that Mr. Rocheford admitted to the owner that he had made a complaint to the BSA about the company.
- This sig deliberately left blank. Nothing to see, move along.
BSA != Birmingham Small Arms
BSA = Bastard Stopped Again
Friends don't let friends line-dance.
We were as compliant as possible for a large-ish organization with one person doing the license management part time. That means we subscribed to the "It will all even out over the year" as we bought things. But bought them we did and I was quite insistent about making sure people submitted the signed paperwork before installing.
Back on point.
I never had the pleasure of having to deal with the BSA, thank goodness. I was diligent in my record keeping and made sure my software reps knew it. If anything we were over-licensed and that's the last thing they wanted us to figure out.
I did get a call from MS's legal area telling me that they thought we weren't buying enough Exchange and that they wanted me to submit an audit, etc. First question from me was asking which company they were asking about, since we purchased licenses under a number of them. No answer. I informed them we didn't use Exchange for our mail system and that they better get their facts straight before wasting my time. Never heard from them again.
More on point.
One thing you never hear is that some of the worst offenders for unlicensed software are the very companies that make up the BSA. As in Microsoft not paying for Adobe, etc. They never publicize that kind of thing.
I'd also argue that there are so many 3rd party add-ons, both free and commercial, for Windows that there is less need to innovate in the core OS. Linux pretty much works the same way, Linux distros basically just "roll up" lots of third-party add-ons. What Windows really needs is a software repository, but that's unlikely to happen due to anti-trust issues.
But look at other Microsoft products for a second. They pile features onto every release of Office and Visual Studio (just redesigned the UIs), their core products. The XBOX 360, another core product, gets new features on a monthly basis in firmware updates. MSSQL is relatively conservative, but it's a database. A lot of innovation in controllers, like laser mice, comes from Microsoft. And DirectX is far ahead of other game development kits.
Conversely apple aggressively puts technology out into people's hands.
Apple is a technology popularizer more than an innovator per se.
Take the Zune. It sucks, but that doesn't mean it's not innovative. The idea of an embedded online music store is a good one (technically this happened first in Japan), as is WiFi connectivity and song sharing between Zunes. Apple added iTunes to the iPod touch, but not song sharing. The big difference between the iPod touch and the Zune is that the iPod actually works. But that's In fact, the way iTunes makes it a huge hassle to transfer tracks is the main reason I don't own an iPod (that and FLAC).
Actually Windows is a pretty good example. In the last 5 years Solaris has released 3rd major file system, OSX is making strong moves to adobt Solaris's file system and Microsoft pulled the plug in WinFS (which was really innovative) because they were scared of additional memory requirement. On security Microsoft has been plodding along where they have underneath the covers the VMS security model. On
.NET compiler is innovative, probably the most innovative compiler since DEC/Compaq's GEM compiler. But what else have they done. C# looks to me like fundamentally a failure of nerve on Microsoft's part. C syntax, C++ / Java object structure.... "lets do what Sun did with Oak in 1991". .NET, why not bundle them? Even in the area of Excel (arguably the world's most popular language) there have huge innovations they are holding back.
On Office I see real lack of features and not infrequently downgrades. Microsoft Office 98 supported more web protocols then office 2007 does. The next version of Mac office will have the whole macro system yanked out. The delimiters system in Excel is much less flexible then it used to be. Drag and drop, OLE and cut and paste get much better with each major version but frankly I don't see much innovation here at all. Constrast the last 13 years of office with the last 13 years of Adobe's creative suite (to pick an app of roughly comparable complexity and cost) or if you think that's too much then compare the last dozen years of office's improvements to the ones in StarOffice / OpenOffic (to pick your Sun example).
Finally on visual studio I've been tracking this one very carefully. I actually follow the guys doing the language research at Microsoft for years.
Back in the early 90's there were a huge range of GUI languages that were very innovative. Far and away the most conservative choice was C++. However Microsoft did innovate substantially with Visual Basic, and so you had a conservative low level language as the core language and a high level very innovative language which provided a "scripting language" for Windows. Finally Microsoft Java / J++ was a fantastically innovative Java. What's happened in the last 10 years?
Now I'll grant the
Meanwhile they have really innovative languages like F# and Python for
Again to pick Sun (since you had originally picked them) Sun invented: platform independence that actually worked, J2EE which led to meaningful 3 tier architectures becoming standard via. application server / Java Beans concepts, J3EE and the possibility for a real replacement to SQL and lately AJAX. Those are huge.
I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Sure, Solaris 10 has been released recently, but if you look at the rate of releases and new features over time for Solaris it's pretty slow.
On Office you're just wrong. What web protocols does Office 98 have that aren't available in Office 2007? And you're just crazy if you think StarOffice has more features than Office. Even Office 98. All the Office detractors seems to conveniently ignore all the collaboration features that have been added to Office over the years. If you ignore Project, SharePoint and Groove when you're talking about Office you're just in denial.
Visual Studio is an IDE that handles lots of languages. I'm talking about the features of the IDE itself, not Microsoft's language history. There are plenty of people that do Python development in Visual Studio. F# isn't bundled because it's too new, it will be bundled in the next version.
StarOffice used to be a proprietary alternative to Microsoft Office and was sold by Germany's Star Division. Then they made their product's 5.1 version freeware for personal use and then later Sun Microsystems bought the software and kept its freeware-for-personal-use status throughout versions 5.1a and 5.2.
Then Sun opened up its source code and made the product open source. The new project was named OpenOffice.org (.org was added, because someone else already had the Open Office trademark), which is open source and freely available and free for everyone to use with many other user rights.
Sun's current StarOffice product is now based on OpenOffice.org, it is still proprietary and its per-person license for up to five computers costs U.S. $70.
For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarOffice and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org .
"The Business Software Alliance took in 13 Million in fines and settlements last year, 90% of it from small businesses like yours.
Ubuntu Linux includes High quality office software, database programs, and enterprise class software of every description. One Low price - Free. With better security, higher uptime, and lets face it, any license the Business Software Alliance hates, can't be all bad.
Closed source - why would you risk your company on it?"
{G} - Pug
An Invisible Entity of Vast Power whose existence must be taken on faith alone: Liberal Media