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Open source against piracy
,----[ Quote ]
| There are a few good reasons why open
| source fans should support the Business
| Software Alliance.
|
| I've never made a secret of the fact that I
| dislike the Business Software Alliance
| (BSA). It's questionable statistics and its
| sweeping generalisations make for annoying
| reading at the best of times. But recently
| I've been thinking that perhaps open source
| advocates should get behind the BSA.
`----
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Software/11472.html
Walk the plank....or not! Help Microsoft eliminate software piracy.
,----[ Quote ]
| Several times I have written about
| "Software Piracy", and I think a lot of my
| readers get a little tired of hearing about
| it, but something happened this week that
| started me thinking about Software Piracy
| again.
| Microsoft made Software Piracy Prevention a | voluntary thing.
|
| Of course Microsoft will probably pitch a
| different explanation, but what they
| actually did was post an "update" to
| Windows 7 that had lots of anti-piracy
| software in it, and told their customers
| that it was "voluntary" to install the
| anti-piracy software.
|
| Now this was probably in response to
| another time when Microsoft tried to force
| down the throats, er....ah..."distribute"
| anti-piracy software for Windows XP, but
| that time they called it "critical bug
| fixes" and made a lot of their customers
| mad because they installed the "bug fixes"
| and ....hello! The "fixes" did not fix any
| bugs, and in some cases caused the
| customer's systems to act in very bad ways.
| Very, very bad ways! And of course
| Microsoft's customers then acted in very,
| very bad ways.
`----
http://www.linuxpromagazine.com/Online/Blogs/Paw-Prints-Writings-of-the-maddog/Walk-the-plank-or-not!-Help-Microsoft-eliminate-software-piracy?blogbox
Recent:
The Likely Victims of This Year's BSA raid: Internet Cafe's and Other Computer Rental Businesses
,----[ Quote ]
| Do you run a business that involves any form
| of computer rental such as internet cafe, for-
| profit computer training center, and/or hotel
| that provides computers for the convenience of
| the guests? Do you live in a country like
| Taiwan where BSA (Business Software Alliance)
| does yearly raid to small and medium
| businesses with the help of your government
| because they are pressured by, or have some
| inconvenient relationship with BSA? My guess
| is that BSA will target this new group of
| software "pirates" -- yes even if they have
| already paid for the first layer of the
| Microsoft taxes. But there is a way -- maybe
| even a much more profitable way -- out if you
| are willing to try diskless computers + mother
| tongue bootable usb keys.
`----
http://blog.ofset.org/ckhung/index.php?post/101k
SA bangs piracy drum
,----[ Quote ]
| Most users will simply do without the software or
| switch to something more affordable or even open
| source. A huge part of the problem with software
| is that it is expensive and most users just can't
| afford the price tag. Having a pirated copy is
| nice but not nice enough to convince them to hand
| over thousands of rands to buy a legitimate copy.
`----
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Software/10099.html
Piracy's global economic impact debated
,----[ Quote ]
| But critics of the study say it fails to account for the possibility that
| pirated software could be replaced with Linux or other open-source options. If
| it were, the BSA's global loss figure of $53 billion would drop sharply, they
| maintain.
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/342057/Piracy_s_global_economic_impact_debated?taxonomyId=18
Open Source: One Sure Way To Keep Piracy At Bay
,----[ Quote ]
| The BSA won't tell you that the best way to avoid software piracy is to use
| software that cannot, by definition, be pirated. Then again, the BSA also
| won't tell you that a disgruntled ex-employee decided to make your life
| miserable by giving them a call.
`----
http://www.bmighty.com/blog/main/archives/2009/08/the_software_co.html
Don't Copy That Floppy sequel promises prison beatings for copying
,----[ Quote ]
| The BSA are, of course, big proponents of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
| Agreement, which would require signatories to send noncommercial copiers to
| prison, so I suppose that there's something to this threat.
`----
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/06/dont-copy-that-flopp-1.html
Is The BSA Purposely Promoting Open Source Alternatives?
,----[ Quote ]
| So, what is the BSA doing? Yes, that's right, it's pumping up its software
| audit program, sending 1,000 audit letters to companies in London, officially
| demanding they detail their software usage -- while unofficially acting as a
| tremendous advertisement for open source software, where providers don't
| treat their customers as if they were criminals.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090602/2302305104.shtml
How many billions is open-source software worth?
,----[ Quote ]
| In other words, using OSS isn't about being anti-Microsoft or believing in
| some sort of open-source ethical rightfulness, using OSS is simply a smart
| business move. Indeed, at $387-billion in value, OSS is twice as valuable as
| Microsoft's current net worth of $183.5-billion. Not bad for 'free software'
| is it?
`----
http://blogs.computerworld.com/how_many_billions_is_open_source_software_worth
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