How about posting this on alt.destroy.microsoft? I fail to see the
relevance of Microsoft bashing on an email list that has nothing to do
with Microsoft. For the record this is the "Open Office General" email
list. Discussions not directly related to OOo should be taken elsewhere.
Chuck
Roger Markus wrote:
> And now onto the money that was taken from Sterling Ball's company Ernie
> Ball, and the trouble caused them by illegal Microsoft and their BSA
> henchmen. The full article is here:
> http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html
>
> Rockin' on without Microsoft - by David Becker (Staff Writer, CNET
> News.com- August 20, 2003)
>
> Sterling Ball, a jovial, plain-talking businessman, is CEO of Ernie
> Ball, the world's leading maker of premium guitar strings endorsed by
> generations of artists ranging from the likes of Eric Clapton to the dudes
> from Metallica.
> But since jettisoning all of Microsoft products three years ago, Ernie
> Ball has also gained notoriety as a company that dumped most of its
> proprietary software--and still lived to tell the tale.
> In 2000, the Business Software Alliance conducted a raid and subsequent
> audit at the San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based company that turned up a few
> dozen unlicensed copies of programs. (As relates the event: "We've never
> been sued, never had any problems paying our bills. And one day I got a call
> that there were armed marshals at my door talking about software license
> compliance...I thought I was OK; I buy computers with licensed software. But
> my lawyer told me it could be pretty bad.") Ball settled for $65,000, plus
> $35,000 in legal fees. But by then, the BSA, a trade group that helps
> enforce copyrights and licensing provisions for major business software
> makers, had put the company on the evening news and featured it in regional
> ads warning other businesses to monitor their software licenses.
> Humiliated by the experience, Ball told his IT department he wanted
> Microsoft products out of his business within six months. "I said, 'I don't
> care if we have to buy 10,000 abacuses,'" recalled Ball, who recently
> addressed the LinuxWorld trade show. "We won't do business with someone who
> treats us poorly."
>
>
> And what were the nature of the "unlicensed copies" that caused Ball and his
> company so much trouble? Ball states: "We pass our old computers down. The
> guys in engineering need a new PC, so they get one and we pass theirs on to
> somebody doing clerical work. Well, if you don't wipe the hard drive on that
> PC, that's a violation. Even if they can tell a piece of software isn't
> being used, it's still a violation if it's on that hard drive." - I
> wonder... how many people realize that if they buy a new computer with
> Microsoft on it, use it for a couple of years and then give it to their
> little brother when they go off to college with another new computer, that
> their little brother is breaking the law unless he deletes everything on the
> hard drive, destroys any disks containing the Microsoft OS that came with
> the computer and goes out and spends several hundreds dollars repurchasing
> the same software that came on the computer in the first place. This is
> really obscene! It's comparable to buying a book and then being required by
> law to burn the book after reading so no one else can read it! It's
> insane! Would typical Microsoft users go on supporting that company if
> armed BSA henchmen came pounding on their doors demanding to see every
> computer in the house and fined everyone who was not the original user of
> that machine? Why aren't there more cases of people fighting Microsoft's
> illegal tactics? When Ball was asked if he had wanted to settle, he
> replied:
>
> Never, never. That's the difference between the way an employee and an
> owner thinks. They attacked my family's name and came into my community and
> made us look bad. There was never an instance of me wanting to give in. I
> would have loved to have fought it. But when (the BSA) went to Congress to
> get their powers, part of what they got is that I automatically have to pay
> their legal fees from day one. That's why nobody's ever challenged
> them--they can't afford it. My attorney said it was going to cost our side a
> quarter million dollars to fight them, and since you're paying their side,
> too, figure at least half a million. It's not worth it. You pay the fine and
> get on with your business. What most people do is get terrified and pay
> their license and continue to pay their licenses. And they do that no matter
> what the license program turns into.
>
>
> The rest of the article is in the form of an interview and it makes for
> interesting reading. See the whole thing at the link above.
>
>
> So - evidence put on the screen, we can turn to the question of "Why
> bother?". Believe me - I would much rather have done something else with
> the time I've spent putting this letter together, but if we don't watch our
> backs and keep vigilant, we'll end up being just more road kill for
> Microsoft.
>
> The most productive software I use that enables me to earn a living with my
> computer does not come from Microsoft. Indeed, the biggest time and money
> wasters over the years have consistently come from Microsoft. I'm not even
> talking about the financial aspect here - I don't mind buying good software
> sold at a reasonable price and I often do, but rotten software sold at
> insanely high prices is insulting and destructive.
>
> RM
>
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