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Software

Our old CEO used to see no harm in it.

That was before I explained how much it would cost us if we got caught. After that, she had no problem paying for software.

Our company is 100% legit. It is my job to make sure.

As for what goes on outside of the office, that I can not comment on. 😀
 
slycat,

Do a little research and get together some dollar figures on what it would cost the company if they were too be fined for all the illegal copies of software that they have running. Don't raise a big fuss, but I would run some of the numbers by your immediate supervisor to see what happens. They may see the light that they need to either buy the licenses or limit their exposure to fines. If the still don't care then it is their problem, not yours.
 
We have a license for everything we use, even spare licenses for quite a few applications. We take following the rules very seriously, and are sure there is a license available before handing out software that we don't have a site license for. Of course it doesn't hurt that 90% of our software is site licensed with unlimited numbers of instances allowed 🙂
 
Originally posted by: AU Tiger
slycat,

Do a little research and get together some dollar figures on what it would cost the company if they were too be fined for all the illegal copies of software that they have running. Don't raise a big fuss, but I would run some of the numbers by your immediate supervisor to see what happens. They may see the light that they need to either buy the licenses or limit their exposure to fines. If the still don't care then it is their problem, not yours.

done something like that already...but they always say...'..later when we got more money..' kinda thing.
 
what irks me even more is some of the software are 'borrowed' from me...
when i leave i'm making sure i 'disable' all of them.
 
Originally posted by: slycat
Originally posted by: AU Tiger
slycat,

Do a little research and get together some dollar figures on what it would cost the company if they were too be fined for all the illegal copies of software that they have running. Don't raise a big fuss, but I would run some of the numbers by your immediate supervisor to see what happens. They may see the light that they need to either buy the licenses or limit their exposure to fines. If the still don't care then it is their problem, not yours.

done something like that already...but they always say...'..later when we got more money..' kinda thing.

Make you have the copies of the memos you sent out and time stamps. That way if your company did get caught you personally wouldnt be liable.
 
Originally posted by: Ameesh
if your boss told you to go rob a bank would you do it?

Yep, your still commiting a crime even if your boss told you to. Might be time to explain the large amounts you can be fined for EACH offense. All a company needs is 3-4 pcs with illegal software on them to rack up big fines.

Be careful when bringing it up with your boss though, perhaps bring in an article for the web or a magazine about pirating and possible punishments. MS will bankrupt small companies if they get ticked off at rampant pirating...
 
The civil engineering place I used to work for was a little on the iffy side with their SurvCADD program. Everything else was legit.
 
Originally posted by: slycat
Edited:

if u knew your company would go out of business if they had to pay for all the software licenses
they need...would u report them still?...meaning u lose your job coz company dies.

Yes.

We are pretty careful about our licensing.

amish
 
I work with a lot of insurance companies.. May not sound like a match, but it is...

All insurance documents must be filed with the state issued and APPROVED by the department of insuance for that state. If they are out of compliance the DOI comes in and does a study of everything they have done in the last 5 years to see if they made any other errors. This results in huge fines.. Same thing with not having licences, huge fines.

Most large insurance companies actually consider making sure everything is in line as "risk avoidance". it's always better to be prepared, than caught off guard. A portion of their reseves has to be held up "just in case" something goes wrong. Your company is just waiting for that "just in case" to happen before they do anything about it.

Ask the CIO or VP's how the board would feel about getting slammed for a few hundred K$ in fines at the next meeting.. They would be the ones held responsible, because they authorized the practice.. After they get canned for it, who would hire someone who cost the last company they worked at that much $$$?
 
the company i work at is highly compliant and has some EA's , so i don't have to think about all that
 
i believe the BSA is declaring a general amnesty again right now.
your company should have already gotten one of their scare tactic letters from them by now.
i love this time of year when we get to print up their scary letters for them.
 
Hell no, what a silly question! I've worked at a company before - actually two in a row - that didn't even know you had to pay for software. They could not have afforded it, so getting them bankrupt is silly (but would have gotten me fired). The two I've worked at since pay for it all.
 
Software dev organizations are pretty serious about licensing. If you make software using unlicensed software and make money off what you make, you may owe LOTS of money to the licensees if they catch you. And there's almost no way to hide it.
 
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