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Cheap Software, watch out...

Submitted by Rita Bowman on Mon, 2005-10-24 14:28. copyright

One of the items to be sure to have and keep on file in the Software Center is Certificates of Authenticity. I've received e-mails from various sources titled 'Cheap Software' or 'Very Cheap Software', offering applications for three to five times less than in stores. I wonder where these sources get these applications and how they can afford to sell them at such huge "discounts"...

This is one avenue for counterfeit software that made Certificates of Authenticity necessary. Trade shows are another source of counterfeits. Those of you who travel to Asia can pick up all the counterfeits you can imagine. One should ask for licenses and Certificates of Authenticity for applications that are loaded on the new computers you purchase. And how about the software suppliers? Do they register applications to your company and provide licenses to you? How accurate are their records?

Check out sources before buying. You are the customer. Ask questions and for proof of their legitimacy.

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It's amazing to me how the pr

Submitted by Bill Rhea on Wed, 2005-10-26 07:59.

It's amazing to me how the prices these unscrupulous vendors advertise periodically make it to the attention of senior management, who invariably ask "why are WE spending more?"

Sometimes a product is authentic shrink wrap from a publisher, but contains usage rights offered to academic or non-profit institutions only. Not the suprise you want to have if you're in a for-profit business that has just outfitted itself with academic titles....

-br

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Excellent point, Bill. I had

Submitted by Rita Bowman on Wed, 2005-10-26 11:14.

Excellent point, Bill. I hadn’t experienced receiving shrink-wrapped software for an inappropriate purpose such as academic or non-profit. This is something individuals must watch, also.

Shrink-wrapped licenses are binding even though one can't read the license before opening the package. Crazy. There should be a requirement that licenses on all shrink wrapped software be visible and that suppliers state in the ad the intended purpose such as academic, no-profit just as they state the version and edition, etc.

It is recommended that companies, and those within the company, not purchase shrink-wrapped software nor purchase “such a deal” software at trade shows or online, that a mandatory internal purchasing path be used for all software purchases to avoid a multitude of perils. Purchase from a reputable supplier even where a single license is required so questions can be asked.

Question: Do discovery tools make a distinction between these purposes? Or is the purpose stated in the written license only? Discovering inappropriate licenses could help weed them out. Although, if a company is audited by the publisher or enforcement agency, it would be caught when written licenses are compared.

Rita

--
-- Rita Bowman

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Educating people within your

Submitted by Rita Bowman on Wed, 2005-10-26 12:03.

Educating people within your company about the perils and ins-and-outs of software is difficult. Company orientations should include software education. It would be nice to have an Intranet site and permissions to send a broadcast e-mail to inform all people within your company when issues arise.

One of my frustrations was that users placed orders for software giving the name of an application only. I would love to have sent a broadcast e-mail reminding everyone to include the version number and edition. A great deal of time was spent in phone or e-mail tag pulling information out of the requesting party. And they wondered why it was taking longer than they thought it should...

Rita

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-- Rita Bowman

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It is also amazing how many c

Submitted by Tom Wills on Fri, 2005-11-18 07:32.

It is also amazing how many companies will put aside money to pay a fine (after an audit) rather than educate employees about basic software compliance in order to avoid an audit. I am a strong advocate of Employee Buy-in.

In most organizations employees cannot load their own software. But, with the rights required to use newer OS's, employees find they can load some software. Not good.

This may encourage employees to purchase "cheap" software to do their job (or because they are bored) and load it on their work PC without (or even with) the knowledge of IT. Something we all need to be aware of.

Thomas A. Wills, CSM, CITAM
Information Systems Manager, Software Compliance
Tucson, AZ

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Technical Staffs. In compa

Submitted by Rita Bowman on Mon, 2005-11-21 17:18.

Technical Staffs.

In companies where I managed IT assets in a PC environment, general user's computers were locked down. It was the IT developers, and some floor techs, who did the pirating or loading unauthorized applications for users. In many cases it was a matter of wanting to learn a new application or a high ranking-manager insisting on having an application loaded.

A good tech friend finally told me that the software development departments had pirate servers where every conceivable application was available for the taking, if you were a tech. After finding one such server in the IT Engineering group, it took months to convince the manager to shut it down. Ironically it was his group who developed a modular system so I could control who loaded applications.

The policy of wiping drives clean before reissuing computers went by the wayside. As an employee left the company and the software became "available", those applications may not have been available after all. And, that company didn't want an audit tool. Life was so much nicer in a MAC environment where it was very easy for anyone to install applications because I had an audit tool and full senior management and tech staff backing.

Each group needs a different educational approach. After educating upper management, the technical managers and staffs are the next groups to educate. And, an audit/discovery tool is an absolute essential.

Rita

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On today's (12/15/2005) PCWor

Submitted by Tom Wills on Thu, 2005-12-15 19:41.

On today's (12/15/2005) PCWorld.com is an article "California man faces record fine, prison for selling pirated software as 'backups.'". Every now and then the bad guys do get caught.

Thomas A. Wills, CSM, CITAM
Information Systems Manager, Software Compliance
Tucson, AZ

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