I have a moral quandry...

[jecook]

I'm installing windows 2000 and possibly office 2003 on a system for a relative. She supplied the software.

Now, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that she's exceeded her "rightful" license count on both. Especially since the copy of office is the "home use" version that large corporations get when they but an imperial fuckton of licenses from M$.


My quandry is: should I not worry about it, because it's really not my issue, or should I report her?

Aside from the fragged machine, she's pretty cool, and she never flinches at the prices I charge.

On an interesting side note: the machine's down due to a bad CMOS battery (second one in as many years!), and because she likely picked up a bug from Limewire or some other P2P program OR the other machine on her home lan that suffered the same exact problem... That was an easy fix: 2 hours of labor, and a $2 battery later, the system was almost right with the world.

Comments

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

Are you seriously considering betraying your blood solely to uphold a few anachronous intellectual copyright laws, for reason of 'pirating' software from one of the richest companies in the world?

Or am I missing something?

[jecook]

Technically, she's a relative by marriage, but otherwise...


I don't think I'll turn her in. I'll bet her work might get annoyed at her though... ::giggles::

[guinevere33.livejournal.com]

Hell, *I've* exceeded the rightful license count on my college-supplied version of MS Office just because I've had to reinstall it on my piece-of-shit laptop so many times. Judge not, lest you be judged.

[neferde.livejournal.com]

I hear you there, only mine's an academic version of Office and Frontpage. I had to reinstall both more than 4 times due to computer crashes or software conflicts and never once considered it to be a license violation because it was still the original user and original computer. Silly Microsoft!

[echan.livejournal.com]

Legally, you can install it as many times as you like, as long as it's only installed in one place at a single time. That is, as long as you uninstalled and/or reformatted the old install, you can now legally reinstall it.

[silveryrose.livejournal.com]

Unless they've changed the license agreement since the last time I owned a copy of it, Office actually allows you to have it installed on 1 desktop and 1 portable as long as only one copy is actually in use at any given time.

[fnordx.livejournal.com]

Any time I start to think about how MSFT might be harmed by people pirating their software, I remember the good ol' days of BeOS, and how much I used to love it, and how MSFT went through and destroyed it, and made my time less fun, less useful, and more annoying.

After that, I have no problem doing to them what they did to me.

[omg-teh-funnay.livejournal.com]

Seriously? I wouldn't sweat it at all. It's not worth the time/heartache to report her.

Nothing wrong with flipping her some shit, though. That's ALWAYS a good time.

[ghostdandp.livejournal.com]

be careful. In some states knowing that you are installing software that is pirated is as bad as using the pirated software. :)

We have a don't ask don't tell policy here.

[shifuimam.livejournal.com]

Not only would it be betrayal to "tell on her", but you have no idea if they are truly legal or not - for instance, her company may have provided her with a copy of office 2003 for personal home use.

If they're volume license copies of the OS and software, Microsoft has already made their millions from the contract that included the purchase of that OS and software, so I don't really see the problem.

Anyhow, who in the world do you report that kind of thing to? The FBI? Do they even care that a private home user is using software that's technically already been paid for, for non-commercial purposes, and isn't selling it?

...

[echan.livejournal.com]

How to report illegal Microsoft software. (http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/Reporting.mspx)

[shifuimam.livejournal.com]

Well, now I know how to get revenge on my ex-boyfriend.

[dog-star-man.livejournal.com]

You're a dumbass if you report her. And I know you're not a dumbass.

[echan.livejournal.com]

I'd split the middle: I would not report her, but I would refuse to use them for the install. I might also suggest she pay me to buy and install legit copies.

[manuka.livejournal.com]

My standard response to clients, whether they're family or not, is that "I cannot expose myself to the legal liability of installing unlicensed software on your computer. I need you to either conclusively demonstrate that you own a license or buy a license from me or you favourite vendor." I am, after all, in this to make money.

I install a lot of antivirus software for clients. Just because I happen to have 250 not-for-resale licenses for PC-Cillin doesn't mean I'm going to install it for free on 250 clients. Selling them that software (for a reasonable price) is how I generate a revenue stream.

[shifuimam.livejournal.com]

But if it's not-for-resale, aren't you violating the EULA on those licenses by selling the copies to others?

[manuka.livejournal.com]

Precisely. Which is why I don't do it.

[shifuimam.livejournal.com]

Now I'm confused. I thought you said you generated a revenue stream by selling your copies of PC-cillin at a reasonable price to your customers...?

[manuka.livejournal.com]

Yes, I sell them PC-Cillin licenses at a reasonable price (usually a few bucks under what they go for at the local retail shop), as I am a Trend Micro reseller (which is the only way to get NFR licenses). How did you assume I sold them my NFR copies right after stating that I didn't?

[shifuimam.livejournal.com]

Just because I happen to have 250 not-for-resale licenses for PC-Cillin doesn't mean I'm going to install it for free on 250 clients. Selling them that software (for a reasonable price) is how I generate a revenue stream.

I just read "that software" to mean your 250 NFR licenses.

Oops. :)

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

User supplies software and valid install codes - that's all I ask. I'm neither BSA's bitch nor an auditor of the user's posessions.

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

Well, it depends on where you stand. What do you stand to lose by installing it? The way I see it, your loss is theoretical - somebody somewhere down the line that works for MS or a MS contractor might get axed. And that's a pretty dramatic might. You've shaved somewhere in the vicinity of .000000000000000000000001 cents off a sale of stock somewhere. Unlike the BSA, I don't value the cost of a pirated copy of software at full retail cost - it was never a sale to begin with, nor would it likely have been. Most people would choose to go without and thus find an alternative if piracy wasn't an option.

What I won't do is allow for it to go on with anyone ignorant to what's actually happening. If there's bootlegged software on a computer I think somebody not only has the right but responsibility to understand what that means and why it could potentially be an issue. Not a bloody likely chance, but anti-piracy efforts could be far better if companies desired them to be. My suspicion is that it doesn't pay to focus on writing programs that are difficult to pirate because it's so easy to crack them. The only program I know that effectively asserts its copyright is AVG Anti-virus, and only because it requires frequent updates to function effectively. Otherwise, you have to have a program that connects to the Internet often to authenticate itself and that costs money for bandwidth and would cease functioning if the company stopped operating.

Sometimes a thorough education is enough to persuade them to do things the legit way. Sometimes they don't mind, and that's fine too. I highly suspect there wouldn't be near as many competent techs in this world without bootlegged software.

[kalium.livejournal.com]

Plead the Nuremburg defense.

[goose-entity.livejournal.com]

OpenOffice

[piepants.livejournal.com]

Exactly my thoughts. Why are we having such a big discussion about a bloated piece of overpriced crap?

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

I'm installing windows 2000 and possibly office 2003 on a system for a relative. She supplied the software.
Now, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that she's exceeded her "rightful" license count on both. ...should I report her?

Ethically, if you have reason to suspect you are being asked to facilitate an unlawful act, you should ask for some assurance it's not the case, otherwise decline to help. Only if you are coerced or otherwise subject to their power should you consider going along before reporting them later.

As a practcal matter, consider how long you are going to be related to this woman, and how often you are likely to be confronted by her immediate family.

[kayfox.livejournal.com]

Having just been canned by said software company, I say:

Don't ask, don't tell.

As long as your not certain that she is violating her licence, you can't be liable, and thus dont need to report it.

Secondly, Microsoft is alot more interested in reports of businesses doing this kind of stuff and not just people, reporting some grandmother with two machines with the same windows licence just makes the piracy teams job harder because they have to triage it out of the way to find the ones where 100 machines are getting the same licence.

[susano-otter.livejournal.com]

Never rat out your family.

If you seriously had a problem with it, you'd refuse to do it, and explain why, and leave it at that.

But never rat out your family.

The only time you should ever get the authorities involved in family business is when your family desperately needs help that only the authorities can provide. I'm not seeing that here.

Shame on you for even considering it.