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Ethics thread

Schadenfroh

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Situation

1. Local Red Cross has Office 2003 pro on order, with license from microsoft, ETA 3 weeks.
2. No office 2003 CDs available to install from their license.
3. Red Cross guy wants a friend of mine to install my copy of office 2000 on their computer (at the red cross) so they can use access and go ahead create the database while they wait for it to arrive, then uninstall my copy of office 2000 and install theirs when it does.

would you do it?

this is for access only
 
Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Situation

1. Local Red Cross has Office 2003 pro on order, with license from microsoft, ETA 3 weeks.
2. No office 2003 CDs available to install from their license.
3. Red Cross guy wants a friend of mine to install my copy of office 2000 on their computer (at the red cross) so they can use access and go ahead create the database while they wait for it to arrive, then uninstall my copy of office 2000 and install theirs when it does.

would you do it?
Click to expand...

I don't really see this as an ethical question - IMO it would not be unethical to do what you describe. It's more a legal question, and what you're asking about would clearly be illegal.

Can't they just download one of those Office 30-day trials to tide them over?
 
Why not? Just be sure to uninstall it. They've already paid for a version of office. I don't see a problem with it.

Are you afiliated with the Red Cross in any way, or is it just your friend? If you work there or they pay you, then you should do it. If you have no investment in it, then, well it's up to you.
 
Perhaps the intent behind this is good, but IMHO doing it this time will open the door to doing it again as other issues come up. Where do you draw the line?
 
At my company once the PO has been cut for a piece of software we authorize it to be installed if we have the media already.

A simple cost/benefit analysis would tell you that it would be silly to lose 3 weeks of productivity waitiing for media you possess already to be on site.
 
Originally posted by: gigapet
At my company once the PO has been cut for a piece of software we authorize it to be installed if we have the media already.

A simple cost/benefit analysis would tell you that it would be silly to lose 3 weeks of productivity waitiing for media you possess already to be on site.
Click to expand...

What about the cost/benefit of having such an incompetent system in place that you lose 3 weeks of work because you failed to take this time into account? You can fix this symptom with an office 2000 cd, but if you keep fixing symptoms and never address the problem, it's going to be a frustrating place to work.

Regardless of ethics or legality, I wouldn't do it just because these types of things end up making your job more annoying and difficult, because the bad decisions go unpunished and thus the company ends up seeing that there was no real harm done by their own incompetence.
 
Once we purchase licenses, our vendor lets us download the software right from them....In fact they charge like $20 to send out physical media.
 
A good definition of ethical: Something that one can do for personal gain that would be disasterous if everyone did it.

So no, it would not be unethical. It would, however, be illegal. Don't get caught. 😉
 
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