Re: Software Audit

>On Fri, 22 Mar 1996, Richard Turner <rturner[_at_]LUCE.COM> wrote:

Five years ago, I was doing a freelance stint at Sprint, where illegal copies of favorite Mac software was everywhere. One of my jobs was to strip off any software that didn't have a disk and book on the shelf next to the computer. This forced several associates to order additional software they were used to using.

All this was the result of a raid by the "software police" about 4:30 pm on a Friday in the summertime (many top people headed to the lake or links about that time). I heard rumors of big money settlements and fears that a second bad audit would put them in a really, really bad spot. Despite this, the company had only one site license, and that was for a virus protection program. Perhaps they now have more site-wide arrangements.

This software sharing is kinda like speeding. You can do it for so long, then you get the big ticket. Still, after a few days or weeks, we start speeding again. And, from a clerical person's perspective, what can it hurt to put that cool flying toaster screen on her/his machine, too? This natural human tendency puts the pressure on the company to internally police its people. It's particularly problematic when the company demands that each little unit buy the software out of its already small budget.

Some companies have standards and procedures on this issue, while others have some sort of wording in the employee manual about not using software copied from another employee's workstation. I don't know how much that helps the company when the "licensing Nazis" (their term, not mine) show up. I'm sure the legal folk at Sprint could tell you all about it, if they're allowed to. If you have any friends at Sprint, you might want to try a backdoor approach to getting information on their embarrassing encounter with an SPA audit.

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Lorraine Gehring                           ReachOut Communications
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