back to article BSA: Turn in workmates, make fat dollar a few quid

The Business Software Alliance is waving wads of cash in the faces of individuals willing to snitch on bosses and colleagues who use pirated software. The trade group that represents the interest of multinational software firms such as Microsoft, Adobe and Symantec, coughed up a fairly conservative $136,100 last year in the US …

COMMENTS

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  1. Gulfie
    Thumb Up

    A simple alternative...

    Statistically the products most likely to be pirated are those most distributed - Windows and Office. Any cash-strapped company can simply download Ubuntu and OpenOffice. Licenced and legal.

  2. Marvin the Martian
    Thumb Down

    <refused to take any “blood money” from the BSA>

    Doing the right thing would be to point out (anonymously) to your boss what the situation is licence-wise, how easy to report, as well as the potential gain for the reporter.

    Then any boss --- except in the most frictionless of offices --- will realise the impending doom and voila, licences get bought without paperwork and cash flowing to lawyers. Because they win solid paychecks, blood-money-acceptance or not.

  3. Mike Bronze badge

    Cheaper in the long run

    That argument works with the lottery where the money vs chances work against you so you make a net loss, but in the case of piracy where the money saved by not paying vs the chances of getting caught are the other way around... well, if you're one of the unlucky few then you might pay a few thousand, but you'll almost certainly actually save a few thousand

    not that i support piracy of course, the copy of windows i am using right now is fully licensed (only because i'm currently running the windows 7 beta given away for free :P), and most of my systems run fully licensed copies of linux (again, because it's free :P)

    surely if they want to stop piracy then all they have to do is give it away for free? seems a much more polite way to do it than threatening old grannies and corpses etc, and probably much more effective

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Blanket ban on Microsoft/Adobe software

    Well simply put a blanket ban on commercial software from those BSA vendors.

    If there's a licensing problem with the software, the employee should be bringing it to the attention of management, NOT making a fast buck by telling BSA. Who the f*** needs a supplier trying to induce employees to act against their employers!?

    You don't need that headache that using Microsoft and Adobe software brings, so just blanket ban it's use and make it a sacking offence to install any BSA license product.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    heh

    The west seems to be getting very into the old why spy on the masses dierctly when we can bribe them into doing it themselves, makes you very scared of other people. Who is a friend and who is working for the corporate or state overlords?

    Grass up a mate, get an increase in food rations loyal worker!

  6. James
    Happy

    Surely the BSA should pay ...

    .. these people to recommend that their companies adopt Open Source software ?

    This keeps the companies legal at minimal cost - a serious factor in these Recessionary Times!

  7. Andy Moore
    Gates Horns

    Warning noted

    They are right about the downturn causing people to think again. I have just dumped all versions of Office and installed Open Office instead. Hardly anyone noticed the difference. All I want now is a decent open source replacement for Outlook that runs on Linux and Windows.

    Next step is dumping windows and switching to Linux.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Depends on the business

    “This is a terrible mistake because in the long run, companies stand to lose more money from being caught than they saved by installing unauthorised copies of software.”

    This sentence is missing an 'IF' statement. For small businesses the prices of most good software suites are just so prohibitary and the chances of being caught so small that it's understandable to go down the unfortunately illegal route.

    That said, larger businesses have no excuse - the number of people employed means that invariably you'll have at least one who'll be more than happy to claim an easy £500 for flagging something up.

    *gets coat with F.A.S.T. policy in the pocket

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Open Source comments...

    3....2....1.... :)

    I'm pro Open Source it's just the comments theatre that makes me laugh...

  10. spegru

    An obvious comment but

    USE OPEN SOURCE and LINUX INSTEAD.

    No such thing as pirating when there is no EULA

  11. John Widger
    Linux

    No Title

    In these cash strapped times it could also mean a greater shift to open source software.

  12. Robert Pogson
    Linux

    Good Reason to Use Free Software

    Free Software is distributed under generous terms including making copies and redistribution so allegations of doing so are moot. These terms means a low or no licence fee is usual so it costs less, too.

    see http://www.fsf.org

  13. Tony Humphreys
    Stop

    Use open source then

    Simple solution when budgets are tight, use free and open source instead. Send a message to the multinationals that you are not prepated to pay their extortionate prices. Piracy need not go on with such software as Ubuntu, Open Office, Gimp, Thunderbird (with google calendar extention), Scribus, Eclipse, Netbeans... you get the picture.

  14. Gerry
    Go

    A fantastic advertisement for Free and Open Source Software

    Please, keep it up, spend more money advertising this.

    What about a TV advertising campaign?

    Send me some leaflets and I will distribute them for you.

  15. Paul Crawford Silver badge

    Needed?

    “When business is down and IT budgets are stretched thin, some managers may be tempted to cut corners, leading to increased use of unlicensed software in their businesses,”

    Maybe find some free alternatives to the stuff offered by BSA members? There are few programs I *need* that are under restrictive licenses, and I already have legitimate copies, so why worry? As my OS needs change, I can use VM to run old, but acceptable, software in a protected system with little need to 'upgrade' it to costly and more restrictive licensed versions.

    Managers should be looking seriously at what they really *need* and planning from there, the road to a legal and really cost-effective business.

  16. Mark

    BSA's definition of "unauthorised"

    Is not the media, not the certificate of authority. Heck, not even the upgrade license.

    The ORIGINAL TICKET SALE is all they'll accept. And, if you're a business, EACH AND EVERY upgrade license. Miss one of them out and ALL your software is illegal.

    As far as the BSA is concerned.

  17. Pierre

    @ Andy Moore

    "All I want now is a decent open source replacement for Outlook that runs on Linux and Windows."

    Try Evolution.

    also, to be on the safe side in these gloomy times, avoid any software offered by BSA members (as much as possible). List, quite ironically, available through the BSA online tattleform.

  18. David Wilkinson
    Happy

    Good marketing strategy ...

    Let home users pirate without fear, creating a workforce that is familiar with their products, crack down on any business who uses pirated software.

    That's my theory on why expensive software has protection which is easily bypassed while relatively cheap games often have an excess of copy protection.

    --

    As far as open source ... I am a big fan of open source running on windows. Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, Picasa, 7-Zip, VLC/Media Player Classic .....

    Once you hit a critical mass of "good enough" quality cross platform applications ... the OS you run them on ceases to matter.

  19. Andus McCoatover

    Ernie Ball, anyone?

    'Nuff said. Google, unless you don't already know the story.

  20. Anonymous John

    (untitled)

    "The group also reckoned that the current economic downturn could lead to an increase in software piracy among businesses in these cash-strapped times."

    By the same token, these aren't good economic times for dropping your employer into the brown stuff by shopping him.

    Mine's the one with the P45 and redundancy cheque in the pocket.

  21. Pierre

    Read between the lines

    «“When business is down and IT budgets are stretched thin, some managers may be tempted to cut corners, leading to increased use of unlicensed software in their businesses,” said the group’s veep of anti-piracy and general counsel Neil McBride.“This is a terrible mistake because in the long run, companies stand to lose more money from being caught than they saved by installing unauthorised copies of software.”»

    Translates to: "we need cash. We're coming for YOU *now*"

    BSA guide to a successful software biz:

    1- covertly encourage piracy to spread your crap. send licenses. Ca$h.

    2- go for the "pirates", sue them to hell. Ca$h.

    3a- in tough times, go for your legit customers, find a few which lost one paper, sue the hell out of them . Ca$h.

    3b- concurrently to 3a - , find a state where the courts are clueless and/or bought (e. g. third-world areas like Texas). Find a few legit customers that fell in the pits of the weasely licences (i.e. you don't *own* this copy of the soft, you are only allowed to use it on one precise computer belonging to one precise department in your company.). Sue the hell out of them in the previously identified clueless area. Ca$h.

    3c - Get the CEO to leave, that should keep El Reg hacks busy ;-) .

    4a- When times get even tougher (the EPS might be lower than Wall Street expectations. Doom. God forbit, you might even have to lower the overall yearly bonuses to higher management by a few billion): lay off staff, repeat steps 3a b and c /ad nauseam/, get some taxmoney (blackmail and bribes will help). Ca$h, ca$h ca$h, ca$h and MAJOR CA$H. Also, fire the CEO (same effect as 3c, but stronger).

    4b- try and find a scapegoat (P2P is hot right now), try and milk the cow* as much as possible.

    5- (to be read by higher management people only) You're done. your debts overcome your assets so much that no-one wants to buy you: if you reach this stage, fire everyone, get as much as you can from your shares, and run. FAST.

    Have your say: When will MS (arguably the BSA's most influent member) reach stage 5?

    *scapecow? Anyone? Really? I still retain the copyright, use at your own risks.

  22. Nick Pettefar

    Why Be Illegal?

    Obviously this comment may not cover all instances but the situation seems fairly clear: if a company uses commercial software without paying for it then they are not doing anyone any favours, the software company, their workforce (people like you maybe?), or your business. They should either cough up or install different software. If their business model (profit) is based on using software illegally then I think they should think again.

    We are lucky that we generally have alternatives.

  23. A J Stiles
    Pirate

    Microsoft and Adobe's Viral Marketing

    If Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop had working anti-copying measures, so home and small business users lacked the option to use pirate copies of Office and Photoshop, then most users would *not* pay for Office and Photoshop, but would pay for an inexpensive, competing application. The amount of money in it for Microsoft and Adobe would not be much. (As a side-effect, there is almost no market for inexpensive closed-source applications which would compete with Office and Photoshop: those motivated by money will use pirate software, while those motivated by ideology will use Open Source.)

    The fact of all those users using pirate copies of Office and Photoshop means they are familiar with Office and Photoshop. If Fred in the Shed has been using Cheap Office 2002 for years to write letters and organise his CD collection, then suddenly gets a job, he might point out to the company that Cheap Office 2002, or its 2009 incarnation, is entirely capable enough for his needs. And that is where Microsoft are potentially losing a sale.

    If only more people would take the the Ernie Ball approach to dealing with the BSA .....

    http://news.cnet.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html

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