The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is rattling their sabers in the Boston area lately. They are an anti-software-piracy advocacy group, with what I feel are many Gestapo-like qualities. I have heard a number of radio ads that are trumpeting a "truce" period during February, in which companies are encouraged to make sure that all of their software is legitimate. That is, every person should have a licensed copy of every piece of software that they use.
To me, the whole thing smacks of a protection racket. I can't really put my finger on why. After all, if a company hasn't bought sufficient copies of a program that it uses, that is a bad thing. However, it seems to me that some level of piracy is being built into the price of the software in the first place. If the software companies, via the BSA and the threat of unbelievably high fines (up to $150,000 per infraction), are able to force 100% compliance, then they are having their cake and eating it, too.
One tactic that really irritates me is the implicit recruiting of disgruntled employees (or ex-employees). The BSA ads only warn that disgruntled employees might call them at any time. Hmmm, I wonder where these unhappy people might get the idea to call? Again, I can't really pin down why this tactic irritates me so much. As one of my coworkers put it, "If you saw someone shoplifting, wouldn't you turn them in?" I suppose that there is a "snitch" or "whistleblower" aspect to the situation that is unsettling to me.
One unintended consequence of the BSA witchhunt is that I am looking seriously at alternative packages that are less expensive or free for both personal and business use. For instance, I have downloaded a copy of StarOffice from Sun that is somewhat compatible with Microsoft's Office software. It is not as nice, but certainly will suffice for personal use. Likewise, I have been playing with Linux as an alternative to Windows 98, NT, or 2000, at least for certain limited uses (file serving, web page serving, firewalls, etc.) The very arrogance and intimidation techniques that the BSA member companies are employing may very well result in decreased use of their software, rather than increased license compliance as they would wish.
You can respond to my ranting here.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him rant.