[Golden Eagle]

Of course, even Apple is proprietary. The only way to eliminate the possibility of audits, and eliminate the man-hours to make sure you're compliant with all of your software, is to use free software.

Not true, since free software typically includes *no warranty* and passes the liability to the user, you can still be liable for end use.

[antiRepublicrat]

Not true, since free software typically includes *no warranty* and passes the liability to the user

Vista Home/Ultimate EULA:

G. NO OTHER WARRANTIES. The limited warranty is the only direct warranty from Microsoft. Microsoft gives no other express warranties, guarantees or conditions. Where allowed by your local laws, Microsoft excludes implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

In any case, what we're talking about is protecting yourself from the maker of the software. You have to protect yourself from proprietary vendors, and that costs time and money. It is a factor too often not included in TCO comparisons. My last company had a well-paid slot devoted to license tracking.

You only have to protect yourself from an open source copyright holder if you are going to redistribute the code.