Discussion on:

Manage software licensing compliance... or else

Anybody get this database to open? I downloaded it, and it says unrecognized format when I try to open it with MS Access.

The database downloads OK, but it needs Access 2000 to open. When I tried to open it in Access97 I received the same error, but when I opened it using Access2000 it opened just fine.

Death to these FX$5*! greedy bastards.
M$ is the spearhead in all these BSA crap...
One license for each copy of Office installed...yeah, right....Can you imagine the power M$ will have because of all that $$$$$$$$ !!?? We'll all be going to hell !
GNU FOREVER !

Anbody need a copy of MS Access 2000 to open the database?

Just Kidding, sorry couldn't resist.

Anybody check out the software link that SBA uses. It brings you to thier website and you have to fill in all of you personal and company info to download a demo version. I wonder how many Darwin Awards were given out to the people that filled out that form.
How many of you think it is a coincidence that link is provided in an IT/Tech forum about license compliance?
Looks like a setup to me.

You mention that there are stiff penalties (fines) for the companies, however, you imply that the IT person who installed this software is not liable.

This is true in part. IT people are not financially liable for the installation or known use or unlicensed software. But if it is proven that the IT person had knowledge of the non-licensed software, or installed this software knowing it was not licensed, The IT person(s) stand to loose their certifications (ie.. MCSE, CCNA, ETC) and be Blackballed from ever being able to obtain any certifications again.

So much for any future work in the IT field.

I think that this was an extremely important bit of information that should not have been omitted.

Other than this oversite, I think this was a very good article.

I am neither for or against the rules of licensing, merely stating what I have learned to be fact.

Thank You,

J Mitchell
Manager IS/IT Administration

Nice support from the standards bodies. Most often, the IT folks do not have final purchase approval and can only suggest they get legal. I think that's pretty bad when a certification body holds an individual responsible for something they may have no control over. What are the IT folks supposed to do? Purchase the software out of their own pockets? Disobey a work assignment from their superior?

What if you don't have certifications or never plan on getting them. What will they do then?

Yes microtech, they fine you, your manager, your GM, your company, and if they can, anyone else they can stick with it. Cert or not, how deep are your pockets?

Anyone have any luck with getting this download to work?

It works fine,

Make sure you have access2000 and not 97.

97 can not open up a 2000 db. 2000 though can open up a 97 db.

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To all who found that it works in Access 2000:

It may work ok in Access 2000 but the download page says the requirements are Microsoft 97/2000. It does not specify Access 2000. It should be posted so it can be loaded in either format. Some users have not updated to Access 2000.

Copied from the download page:

Version: 1.0
License: shareware
OS: Windows 9x/NT
System Requirements: Microsoft Access 2000
Size: 30 KB
Downloads: 113

Maybe they changed it, I don't know. But I think the above requirements says it all.

Careful Mr. Gaffney... If you whisper that you haven't upgraded too loudly, the Microsoft bogeyman will come to get you!

As for the yokel who posted the Death to Microsoft article... I am sure there must be a better forum for your ramblings... I think Reader's Digest has a page for people like you.

...Still hating Mondays.

I recall reading somewere within the last week that the BSA Bunch are more marketing than enforcement.

Have you heard of anyone getting busted by the BSA??

If A marshall showed up at my door, I would more likely be looking for an OSHA inspector

Here in Canada there have been some major busts, triggered by our equivalent organization (CAAST).

Thirteen years ago I got a panic call from a major Canadian broadcaster who was a client, asking how quickly we could get 50 copies of Wordperfect. They had been busted by the RCMP and CAAST. As well I recall a Nortel spinoff which didn't buy their own software when they became independant was busted and shutdown for nearly a week while they were audited. This was about 5 years ago.

So theydo happen. I think they target medium to large businesses, hoping to set an example.

James

I was quite shocked when I called one of my distributors a couple of weeks ago, only to find out that the Marshals, with Microserfs leading the way, were actually in the warehouse, trying to find illegal software. Apparently, Microsoft people, from 50 feet away, were pointing at shelves of stuff and saying "That's illegal, that's illegal, that's illegal."
They didn't find anything, but aparently had enough suspicion and evidence to get a warrant for the search. The distributor was forced to replace all of their software inventory, and is still waiting to get their computers back.

BSA is absolutely an enforcement agency and has been responsible for the assessment and collection of millions of dollars in fines. BSA sponsors truces in selected locations to let companies know that they can bring their licensing into compliance without the threat of penalty during a specified time period. Unfortunately, Microsoft pushes a marketing campaign through their local dealers during this same time, through direct mail pieces. What should be presented as a serious effort to informthe public instead comes off as a cheesy marketing campaign.

About 10 years ago I joined an international company that had just been busted. Simultaneous raids on all US offices, with US Marshals checking briefcases and pocketbooks as people left the building, followed by padlocked doors until the BSA nazis finished their audits. After they 'determined' what was installed on each PC (with their BSA Audit disk) each office was required to show prove of purchase/license for the total number of copies found. What a mess and serious lost time that caused. This was triggered by a disgruntled 'temp' secretary who found one office (Chicago, as I recall) had a posted (!) policy of 'we have A copy of Lotus, thou shalt use it; we have A copy of Wordperfect, thou shalt use it; we have A copy of Word, thou shalt use it; etc. The 'Temp' knew that was wrong, and called it in. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. Cost the overall organization $350,000 (US) in fines, the same amount to purchase (at retail) licenses to suit, and for the next three years were subject to unannounced re-audits. In the meantime, the IT staff had to file documentation to show each PC had only licensed s/w on it. Employees installing unlicensed s/w would be summarily fired. Not cool. Don't get stupid and busted. It ain't worth it!

Keeping a good inventory is the key of making sure you are compliant.

As someone who just went thru the infamous BSA/Microsoft Audit, here are some tips.

1. Make sure management knows and understands the seriousness of this. Put it to them inplain terms $$$$. An audit can ruin a buisness, especially if you are a public company. We went so far as to tell management that it is our names going on the audit sheets, we are not lying about it.

2. Gather up every piece of physical software you have, inventory it and lock it up. No one get's access to it.

3. Inventory every machine. Check this against your software licesne count.

4. Buy what you need. If cash is tight, concentrate on the products that can be potentially devasting if an audit comes down.
(MS, Adobe, Macromedia, Apple) Read your BSA letter!!

5. Any requests for software installation is a 2 step process.
A- signed request for the software
bearing a managers signature is needed.
B- Send the request back to the manager
with a price tag. Do not install/buy
it until you get the final ok.

6. Do not give out software to the users.
Only authorized techs install software. Do not allow users to download software and do not allow them to bring software from home.

7. DO NOT contact the BSA and ask for asylum. That is how they get you. Just be compliant before the deadline date.

Just my tips from just going thru this. You will receive either a blanket letter from the BSA or a direct letter from MS. The latter is the most serious and requires a reply. If you get the MS one, be prepared to spend some cash if you have been lax in the past.

Good luck

"3. Inventory every machine. Check this against your software licesne count."

We have enough licences for all the software on our machines BUT we often use the same CD Key to install the software.
Is this wrong? Do we have potential legal problem doing this?

It is my experience that you are OK if you use the same media copy, just as long as you have actual licenses for all of the PCs you have that media installed. Most of us use Ghost, etc. to rollout PC loads and we end up using the same media copy inall of those loads. Once again, it's actual legal licenses that you want to be concerned about.

best-inventories

When I try to open the license tracking database I get an error that it is an unrecognized database format. I am trying to open it with Access 97.

At the end of the article, they ask for input on how others keep track of licensing. I'd be interested as well. Does anyone use any canned software to track licenses/installation info? I've briefly seen "Track-it" from Blue Ocean Software which contains several components that seem to fit this bill (as well as other components like help desk stuff). Can anyone share some insight regarding this type of software. (I too was unable to check out the download-able access database to see what that contained...) Thanks

We have Track-It in house. While it is true that you can track the software in this program, if the technician (or whomever is auditing the computer) doesn't type in the information exactly the same way each time, you end up with many "versions" ofthe exact same software product. This is what has happened in our company, thus making it very difficult to track what we really have.

We also have Intel LANDesk, which can audit the networked computers remotely so long as everyone is logged into the network and the product is working correctly on the user's end of the line. However, you must make sure that the products installed in your company are in the LANDesk database to begin with. Otherwise, it won't pick them up at all.

With Trackit, it will find any software it "knows" about, and we have one person who identifies the new software found, so that we don't get too confused. Also, there is a convention used for naming, that way you don't end up with "Word" "MS Word" "Word 97" "MS 97 Word", etc etc. We report exclusively out of MSAccess by creating an ODBC link to the Trackit data tables, which is how we found out about the duplications in identified software. (query for "like [app name]" ) The whole thing took about 3 months of tinkering in my "spare time" but it now works fine. It saved our division about 100K in licence fees when the BSA and MS came to negotiate an agreement with our company. And yes, you need to be strict about local permissions, access to the installation sets, and everything else, or stuff just creeps in! We run the Trackit ! audit weekly and its amazing how quickly some things can get inside your guard and spread about. Hope this helps someone.

I used to use Intel LANDesk Mgmt at a previous company that I worked for a few years ago. You could setup a registry scan of a "legally" loaded PC w/ all of your company's applications and use this as a template to scan against all PCs in the network. The program would generate a listing of all programs loaded on the target PC and note all versions and packages that were out of "norm" of the "legal" scanned image. This pretty effective not only for finding illegal software but, also for maintaining software version upgrades on all PCs in the network.

I would like to download the database from this article, but it can only be used with Access 2000. I have Access 97; would it be possible to get this database in a lower version? Thanks.

Can't use....we still have Office97! Would have been nice if it was created in a format that is more widely in use.

In the article Mr. Smith says that we are not personally legally responsible for distributing unauthorized copies of software. Unless things have changed over the last few years this isn't completely true. I've read the newspaper articles about network administrators being held personally responsible for such acts. The one I use as my example when explaining why I will not install illegal software was about an administrator that was fined 6 figures for his part. The company also had a heftyfine. Maybe things have changed, and maybe it comes down to your specific job responsibilties, but being held personally responsible is the reason I've used in the past to tell my bosses that I wouldn't do what they were asking me to do - even as abrand new employee.

I would not want to lead anyone to believe that they can install unlicensed software and not worry at all about being legally responsible. We all know that the majority of our laws can be interpreted many ways depending on the situation. The currentpiracy laws hold the business owner, President, or Board of Directors responsible for the actions of company employees. That is not to say that the BSA or an attorney would not look at filing a legal case against an IT professional if they were trying to make an example. If you want the absolute answer I would recommend consulting an attorney at law that specializes in piracy issues.

If my comnpany had a published policy about not pirating software, and I clearly violated those rules - and the authorities prosecuted the company, I would expect that the company would take it out on me. If I went so far as to encourage others or somehow facilitated wide spread piracy, I would expect the company would fire me.

Several companies I've worked for have employment contracts which mention severe sanctions for actions which harm the reputation of the company, and this would an instance where such a clause would apply.

When I switched jobs a while back and became responsible for software, the first thing I did was an audit of what software was installed versus what we paid for. For the most part we were in good shape but wedid have a few areas where we had more users in licenses. the first thing I did was to lockdown the network install areas for this software so no more illegal installs wou;d take place. We put a process in place to ensure that access to the area would be granted only when someone proved they had a bought the software.

We then began to "reclaim" licenses by examining cases where users had only installed the software because they needed to read files their colleugues had sent. In those situations we encouraged the senders to use Adobe Acrobat to create PDF files instead of sending proprietary formats.

You owe it to your employer to make them aware of situations which may expose them to harm.

James

Every employee and manager in every company knows they are supposed to buy their software - not just copy 1 disk over and over.

If you are ordered to install software for your organization, you can't worry about how (or if) they have the correct licenses in place.

However, once you find out that your organization is knowingly pirating software you should find another job - preferably one that doesn't deal in guns, drugs, slaves or piracy.

Well, at least he didn't set it up in Office XP format... In any case, guys, as IT pros, you should be able to set up a DB like this yourself in less time than it takes you to bitch about it.

Anytime they drag marshals and the BSA in, the idea is to do damage, and damage is done, regardless of guilt. The Feds love to confiscate. MS$ needs its pound of flesh.

We won't discuss laws that are passed that seem to be written in someone-or-other's corporate headquarters- like the MCA.

Hi I have been using a cheap and easy to use
software auditing tool EmcoRemoteAudit.
Take a look and download the trial

regards
Heidar Gudnason

Hi I have been using a cheap and easy to use
software auditing tool EmcoRemoteAudit.
Take a look and download the trial
at www.emco.is
regards
Heidar Gudnason

You know, it's completely possible to run an office network using Linux with KDE and StarOffice. The barriers to doing this, though, are the steep learning curve for the IT department (if they're not *nix savvy) and the cost and disruption involved in re-training all the end users. But that barrier is starting to look pretty darn small compared to the expense and never-ending headache of software license compliance. If I found myself consulting on this issue for a company that was seriously outof compliance, I would definitely propose the Linux/StarOffice solution.

Well there are many tools available in the market now to do the same.....
Talking about the Lepide Software asset management.
http://www.lepide.com/asset-management.html

It list software installed on multiple workstations throughout the network, optimize software licenses, organize licenses, and save money with Lepide Software Asset Management Tool.

Piyush

Lepide.com

Well agreeing to piyush suggestion,, It's been a few years since I had to do this, but I used Lepide Software Assest Management at that time, and it was pretty sweet.to recommend some one an answer