Tag: audit

Oracle and Sun – what will it mean for customers?

Looks like Ellison is going shopping again at bargain prices with Oracle‘s acquisition of Sun Microsystems. This could mean that Oracle is more in line with becoming a competitor to HP, even while touting a joint HP-Oracle Database Machine and Exadata Programmable Storage Server (only launched last year). With Sun, Oracle will get more from the business relationships to sell into customers it already knows and expand into organizations where it may not have a current footprint. But how will […]

We’re Gonna Getcha, Sucka!

We are always talking on this blog about the BSA and the importance of software licensing compliance.  Most people (you can substitute the word “people” with “company”) probably think that this is something that would never happen to them, shrug it off, and continue on as usual. Well, here is $50,000 reason to change your mind. Nels Consulting Services Inc., a 65-person office in Canada, was investigated by the BSA in September of last year over pirated MS and Autodesk […]

BSA hits Thailand

Ecotec – Economic and Technical Crimes Suppression Division – in Thailand has been urged to crackdown on software piracy by the BSA. It’s not just here in the states that audits are on the rise, but overseas companies are feeling it too. The crackdown will begin this month, and the organization will offer rewards up to 500,000 baht for tips of unlicensed software use. According to an IDC Study on the Economic Benefits of Reducing PC Software Piracy released in […]

The BSA has been busy!

In the last month the BSA has publicized 4 separate settlements resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars: 1. A Georgia woman was fined $250,000 for selling counterfeit software on eBay. 2. Argus Technical Services of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Total Administrative Services Corporation (TASC) of Madison, Wisconsin paid a combined $145,000 for having unlicensed copies of Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec office software installed on its computers. This lead came from BSA’s online tip form! 3. Author Solutions of Bloomington, IN […]

BSA – Harassers?

We recently blogged about two UK companies – RedPC and Overclockers – getting in trouble with the BSA over alleged software piracy. CRN in the UK recently wrote a follow-up story to the original news report about the BSA‘s aggressive procedures claiming they were taking these companies to court for simply not filling in a form. As we have said before, being audited by a software vendor or an organization like the BSA is nothing to joke about – if […]

Miro in IT Finance Connection

Want to see why and how CiOs and CFOs should work together?  I was invited to contribute my thoughts on that particular issue for popular newsletter IT Finance Connection.  I was inspired by the outlets focus on the IT-Finance connection.  When dealing with software licensing issues and software asset management, we’ve had to go up to bat with CFOs more often than not.  CFOs often will not understand the process that goes along with purchasing enterprise software, and often are […]

BSA Spends The Big Bucks

They aren’t joking around – Forbes.com reported today that the BSA spent $360,000 in the second quarter to lobby on patent reform, data security and other issues. They lobbied on new legislation that would create a “new coordinator for intellectual property issues” and improve federal efforts against piracy. This is a sign of things to come – with Microsoft, McAfee and HP behind this agency, they plan on taking piracy issues to the top – and cracking down on offenders. […]

BSA Piracy Study

The BSA has put out their 2007 Piracy Study, which has revealed Software piracy in just 8 states in the US (AZ, CA, FL, IL, NV, NY, OH, TX) cost vendors  an estimated $4.2 billion, which is higher than the national figure for all other countries in the world except China.  Lost revenues to software distributors and service providers were an additional $11.4 billion, for a total tech industry loss of more than $15 billion.  $15 Billion – that is […]

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