[KLUG Members] Re: Why does "Software Morality" differ from the rest?

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Sat, 2002-02-02 at 20:41, Adam Bultman wrote:
> Here's the kicker:
> Some places, like the last place I worked at, have IT people who think 
> it's *funny* and *strive* to steal software.  The IT guy thought it was 
> hilarious that he used just about 95% pirated software.  And when I had 
> the *gall* to ask if I could have linux on my desktop, he frowned, and 
> really didn't like it, he tried to shoot me down by saying it's too 
> 'dangerous', because I had too much power (this is also a person who would 
> spend his time poring over weblogs, and shutting down people's access if 
> he didn't like it. When I used an anonymization tool, he got angry)
> Oh, well.  I'm still kicking around with the idea of reporting him.

Who?  The company?  Or the SBA?

<RANT>
If its the SBA, I'd rethink.  Right now, Microsoft is treating every
company as their "personal bitch."  They are sending out threatening
letters to various companies.  Worse yet, they are doing it like "this
is a second letter, blah, blah, blah ..." when I never got a
_first_one_!

I didn't take the shit.  I called the closest local Microsoft office
(Tampa) and gave them a piece of my mind.  I also sent them all the info
they needed on _all_ our licenses (we had extras!).  And told them that
they canNOT change the terms of a license from their printed licenses
that came with the software (e.g., Office 2000).

I then called the law firm and _demanded_ an explaination on _why_ I
didn't receive a "first letter."  The next Monday, I got a letter of
appology regarding the fact that there was an "error" in their sending
the first letter, but I still needed to send them the results of a
"self-audit."

The reason why Microsoft is doing this is because they themselves are a
_paper-based_ firm!  They do everything on-paper, and have _crap_ for
their own records!!!  The government found this out first-hand when they
subpoenaed Microsoft records.  All paper, total mess.

Microsoft is a _joke_ when it comes to being a "Fortune 500" company. 
And you think their clerks are bad, don't even get me started with their
IT services division.  When I want a "good laugh," I just think about
them.  ;-P
</RANT>

-- Bryan

P.S.  Yeah, yeah, I know, most of this belongs on the off-topic list. 
;-P

-- 
Bryan J. Smith, Engineer        mailto:b.j.smith@ieee.org
AbsoluteValue Systems, Inc.     http://www.linux-wlan.org
SmithConcepts, Inc.          http://www.SmithConcepts.com
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