According to IT World.com, it didn't take long, but there is already a hack to get around Microsoft's Vista's Key Management System (KMS). Is this type of hacking brought on for one of the following reasons:

1. High cost of the product?
2. The Microsoft monopoly?
3. Malicious hackers?
4. Software Pirates?
5. Microsoft's monitoring of it's licenses policy?
6. Because it's fun?
7. All of the above?
8. None of the above?
9. Your idea here....

What's it going to be like when Vista is finally released? For one thing, it will mean even higher prices for an already expensive product. What possible consequences will there be for consumers? Only time will tell.

Lack of standardized agreements & price structures has left the door open for sharp practices and stiffing when it comes to software licenses. Yes, it is Time for software suppliers to eliminate sharp practices.

Key user gives glimpse of secret stiffing techniques, by Karl Schneider, defines stiffing and lists 10 techniques:

Outcries from the Windows user community caused Microsoft to change the Visa licensing, bringing it out of the realm of absurdity. Ed Bott’s blog reports that, "The new license terms say: "You may uninstall the software and install it on another device for your use. You may not do so to share this license between devices."

This Shake Up in Software Land is bringing the pot to a boil. Unstable convoluted licensing has pushed many customers to far, to whom the alternatives are looking far better all the time.

Read more about some implications and details of this license change in Bott’s posting, Microsoft changes Vista license terms. One comment to his blog entry pointed to The New Pirates. We’ve heard this idea before in MODERN PIRATES.

Angus McDonald, Principal, Cattle Dog Pty Ltd, in Sydney, Australia wrote a very interesting blog entry, Off Topic: 'Don't trust vendors', addressing software vendor buzzwords. McDonald quotes Iain Ferguson of ZDNet Australia, "In many cases terms are diluted to help mutton dress up as lamb." Buzzwords for a given 'solution' change as sales dry up under the latest buzzword. McDonald continues,

Software has become commoditized. However, prices have not come down as it has with hardware. Phil Wainewright's entry, Why SaaS Pricing Won't Add up, presents some interesting insights as to why prices will have to drop.

...the introduction of the Unlimited bundle marks the crossing of a critical threshold. It's the thin end of the wedge for bundled pricing — a phenomenon that's crucial to ensure that SaaS pricing remains economic for customers instead of adding up to absurdly astronomical sums.

Wainewright predicts that "seat prices will be measured in pennies rather than dollars per month."

See also Shake Up in Software Land Heating Up for information about software-as-a-service (SaaS) and links to articles.

Alan Plastow found answers to some questions posed in Cheap Software, watch out! Companies are selling their extra software to a company in the UK who resells it for a significant discount.

Questions that come to mind are: How does this company prove that the software they sell is legal? What other souces may have legal discounted software? Companies could save a lot of money here. Check out Software Price too Good to be True? It may actually be Legal!

On the other side of the coin, check out the recent comment by Tom Wills about a man from California who is in HUGE trouble for selling pirated software through an extremely lucrative online business. He had the biggest pirating operation found...but who bought from him? Will authorities go after all his customers who are sitting on pirated products?

Brian B. Gilbert outlines some considerations for negotiating software licenses in his article Negotiating the Software License: Eight Tips for the Licensee. Also read the license or contract with your lists of terms and conditions in mind. Some of these have been presented in other blog entries:

Josh Greenbaum’s article linked in the previous blog entry, You're OK! It isn't you! , calls for everyone to say no to convoluted software terms and conditions.

Do you ever think that you’ve lost it when reading and negotiating software contracts and licenses? If so, there is nothing wrong with you. You are an intelligent normal person in spite of how some software sales people may try to make you feel.

Watch governing state laws. The state laws under which your license agreements are governed can have significant impact on your company. Read license agreements closely and negotiate for a governing state that has not adopted UCITA, DMCA or SDMCA.

Customers have lost control as publishers progressively push confusing, detrimental licensing schemes, and Terms and Conditions, to exert greater control and ensure a constant revenue stream for themselves. And underdeveloped software on top of it. Phil Wainewright poses the ultimate question, How many times over should you pay for software?

Another of Phil Wainewright's posts discusses software-as-a-service, SoSaaS: Same old Software, as a Service, also an informative read.

Software publishers have been shooting themselves in the foot. Subscription-based licenses are Pushing IT Closer to Open Source.

I was wondering what others are doing regarding employee training, or what I like to call Employee Buy-In, with their employees?

I have set up a "Software Compliance and the Employee" training presentation. I felt there needed to be a way to give employees training that is comprehensive, and not overly dull. In my "test marketing" of this presentation, it was well received, and was anything but dull. Especially when the employees were encouraged to ask questions.

This can also be presented to groups other than to just employees. Such as user groups, which was one of my test groups. Never miss a chance to champion our cause.

A copy of my generic training can be obtained by clicking
here. I would like to see what others think of it and if they can use it. It is a Microsoft Powerpoint presentation. If you like it, go for it. The only thing I ask is credit where credit is due.

I am a big proponent of training employees in Software Compliance. The more they understand what it is all about, the more cooperation we will get from them.

Some software publishers are scrambling to increase revenues and create a steady revenue stream to keep afloat by introducing new licensing schemes that lead to greater complexity and confusion. A good trend overview can be found in the PDF report by the SIIA, Key Trends in Software Licensing.

Another survey conducted by Macrovision of nearly 400 software companies and 100 enterprise executives responsible for software purchases from October, 2004 mentioned in this C|Net article Customers cool on subscription software says ...the study found that corporate customers aren't yet buying into the change. Sixty-four percent of software buyers prefer buying a license up-front over a subscription model...

Many software users and enterprise level IT professionals are not clear on exactly what the terms Open Source and Free Software mean. It is sometimes associated with fuzzy, colloquial notions of "freeware" used many years ago. However there are very clear definitions of each of these terms articulated from their creators, the OSI and FSF respectively. Like any commercially developed software, Open Source and Free Software are released with licenses that should be read and understood. All software licenses are specific expressions of the rights allowed under copyright law.