Rockin' on without Microsoft

C/Net ^ | 8/20/2003 | David Becker

[Bush2000]

In 2000, the Business Software Alliance conducted a raid and subsequent audit at the San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based company that turned up a few dozen unlicensed copies of programs.

Kinda hard to sympathize with somebody who's stealing software.

[justlurking]

Kinda hard to sympathize with somebody who's stealing software.

Accused of stealing software. He chose not to fight, because the deck was stacked against him.

A few dozen unlicensed programs among 72 computers is practically nothing, especially if his estimate of 8% of the computers actually being non-compliant -- which works out to six computers. That can easily be attributed to inadvertant error.

If they were intentionally stealing software, the number of unlicensed programs and non-compliant desktops would have been much higher.

[N3WBI3]

I like his attitude, if SCO tries to come after him he can alsways go BSD

[Britton J Wingfield]

Most of my record collection is made up of indie artists. Same ratio of good-to-crap as major labels, really. You just have to dig a little deeper to find the gems.

[N3WBI3]

Not when donating a PC to a school and not having the documentation with it is considered stealing..

[Bush2000]

Accused of stealing software. He chose not to fight, because the deck was stacked against him.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Yeahhhhhhh, right.

A few dozen unlicensed programs among 72 computers is practically nothing, especially if his estimate of 8% of the computers actually being non-compliant -- which works out to six computers. That can easily be attributed to inadvertant error.

Ignorance and error don't excuse breaking the law. Plenty of people screw up and break the law. If that were an excuse, nobody would be in jail.

If they were intentionally stealing software, the number of unlicensed programs and non-compliant desktops would have been much higher

Irrelevant and unprovable supposition.

[Bush2000]

I hope Ball finds the person who dropped the dime on them and kicks his butt. Probably a leftie socialist "Democrat".

Rrrrrrrright. So violating the law has become a Conservative trait?

[dogbyte12]

Hey Microsoft Bob... your boys are arrogant, and it's starting to cost them.

You buy a Microsoft spreadsheet program on one computer, and it gets old... Instead of deleting it on that computer, that you pass off to an employee who never ever touches that program, you install it on the new computer. You are out of compliance. That is what keeps Bill flush with cash.

You are not actually using any more copies than you bought, but you are out of compliance, and Bill's goon squad comes and gets you.

Now people have an alternative. In the immortal words of Nelson Muntz... "Ha Ha"

[HiTech RedNeck]

Well your position is unprovable too. This sounds just as plausibly to be misplaced, not stolen, software. Theft requires intent.

[N3WBI3]

#1) this is civil law not criminal law, big difference
#2) nobody is sayingits ok to break a contract, what we are saying is that if it happens charging a guy 80k for accidently doing it instead of asking him to either buy the product or delete it is the correct thing to do.

[rdb3]

So violating the law has become a Conservative trait?

Of course not. Then again, supporting institutions which donate to abortionist causes isn't a conservative trait, right?

You may want to tread very lightly here.

[justlurking]

Ignorance and error don't excuse breaking the law. Plenty of people screw up and break the law. If that were an excuse, nobody would be in jail.

However, people that inadvertantly break the law are usually given probation or a suspended sentence. In many cases, making restitution is enough to get the charges dismissed.

On the other hand, It cost this guy $100,000. If he chose to fight, he had to pay the costs of his prosecution and his defense. What would you have done, if confronted with the same problem, due to an inadvertant error on your part?

Irrelevant and unprovable supposition.

No more so than your claim that he was intentionally stealing software.

[SauronOfMordor]

Kinda hard to sympathize with somebody who's stealing software.

Being careless is not the same as intentionally stealing

How did that happen?

We pass our old computers down. The guys in engineering need a new PC, so they get one and we pass theirs on to somebody doing clerical work. Well, if you don't wipe the hard drive on that PC, that's a violation. Even if they can tell a piece of software isn't being used, it's still a violation if it's on that hard drive.

How it happens is you get the new machine for the engineers, re-install the software on the new machine that was on the old machine, and forget to wipe it off the old machine before giving it to the clerk.

[kezekiel]

Rrrrrrrright. So violating the law has become a Conservative trait?

Maybe you missed the part about how in order to fight the charge, he'd have to pay Microsoft's legal fees. Easier to roll over.

And by the way, if what Ball says is true, and the software was sitting on a hard drive unused, then Microsoft suffered no real damages. Do you support suing them on principle, which is what that amounted to?

[B Knotts]

Thank you for keeping that attitude alive. Every little bit helps people switch to Linux.

[Bush2000]

Hey Microsoft Bob... your boys are arrogant, and it's starting to cost them.

Phew... good thing you guys aren't arrogant... /SARCASM

[Bush2000]

#1) this is civil law not criminal law, big difference

Read for comprehension. I never said it was a criminal case.

#2) nobody is sayingits ok to break a contract, what we are saying is that if it happens charging a guy 80k for accidently doing it instead of asking him to either buy the product or delete it is the correct thing to do.

Accidental, my ass. You know as well as I do that people routinely rip off software, games, CDs, movies, etc.

[Bush2000]

Well your position is unprovable too. This sounds just as plausibly to be misplaced, not stolen, software. Theft requires intent.

"Gee, uhhhhh, sorry, your Honor. I had no idea that the crate of stereos were in the back of my truck..."

[Bush2000]

However, people that inadvertantly break the law are usually given probation or a suspended sentence. In many cases, making restitution is enough to get the charges dismissed.

I wouldn't want to see the guy thrown in jail. I would simply want him to make restitution. And that's exactly what happened in this case.

[N3WBI3]

This was not the case here! try to focus, this guy had 6 pc's that were bad that is saying each PC was costing MS more than 13K dollars!