Microsoft collars eight UK resellers for dealing counterfeit software

[DR]

Keep IT Real campaign announces further success in stamping out the trade in pirated products.

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We are keen to know your take - as a home user or as a corporate user how it affects you - both on how easy or complicated you find it - please vote and feel free to comment below...

[Funkstar]

As far as I know we are 100% legal here.

Didn't used to be, back when I started pretty much nothing was legal.

[dangel]

Semi - you're never completely legit - there's always someone using expired software or software that's only free for personal use. Certainly for all the big stuff we're 100% - we have to be.

[nichomach]

I make damned sure we buy our licenses here, and we enforce a no install w/o approval policy - and the approval in question is mine.

[0iD]

100% Legal at work, not so at home probaly, 95% legal there.
However, if licences for some things, like say Office 2007, abt £325 ish for a licence on a product that's going to be outdated in a year, so IF you want to keep up you have to buy an upgrade licence etc etc. I think not for the average (non student) home user.

[TiG]

The way i read the article is not are you legit or not, its Resellers selling stuff without licencing it.

A far cry from is your office fully legal.

TiG

[Scott B]

Obviously we get a mixture of trade and end-user readers here.

The impression I got was that Michala Wardell is keen to hear the views of both.

Her primary area of influence is in the channel, but people wouldn't make money out of selling dodgy software if there wasn't demand for it, so it's just as relevant to hear the thoughts and concerns of end-users too.

I think Microsoft believes there is a pretty clear divide between legitimate product and counterfeit, but maybe you don't think there is. That's just the sort of thing that needs to be addressed.

[Funkstar]

Originally Posted by Scott B

Her primary area of influence is in the channel, but people wouldn't make money out of selling dodgy software if there wasn't demand for it, so it's just as relevant to hear the thoughts and concerns of end-users too.

Unless they are selling the software for less than £5, I would guess that the people buying the dodgy software were not aware that is wasn't genuine.

If youa re going to knowingly use illegal software, you are going to get a copy off a friend or fine it online to download. You won't be buying it from a retail outfit.

So there isn't really a demand for dodgy copies, there is just a retail market to exploit.

[nichomach]

Funkstar's got a point here; I mean, the guys that got busted were resellers selling hooky copies - they're not going to be banging MS Project out at a fiver a go, are they? The risks are too high. They're going to be flogging them at a price not completely at odds with reality, since it makes it less likely they'll be reported (less reason to assume it's hooky) and makes them more cash, I'd have thought.

[Saracen]

100% legal at work, as far as I know, and 100% legal at home, or very close to it. For instance, I still use Office 2000. Why? Because I've got it, it's legit and any 'improvements' aren't worth the cost of upgrading to me. And I still use WinXP, for much the same reason. And my server still runs 2000 Server, again, because it's legit and it's sufficient for my needs.

By "legit", I mean what I have is original, boxed, licenced and used within restrictions ..... but it doesn't mean I've registered it. By and large, I haven't. And generally, won't.

[Lucio]

I'm pretty keen on making sure all my software is licensed and used correctly, I'm aparently one of the only ten people in the world to own a licensed copy of WinZip

I've found that piracy just isn't worth the risk, too many dodgy copies come with all kinds of invasive spyware that it's just not worth the hassle. I only have to look at what happens at work to see the benefits...

However, that said, small businesses simply cannot afford many of the licensing packages. For example, take Microsoft Office, a useful package right? Vital to business? well no.. it's handy to be able to draft a letter or do a basic spreadsheet but when it comes to day to day use, for most users it's not the case. How do you justify £250 per user in your company for software that gets used a couple of times a day at most?


All in all, software sellers like Microsoft need to bring down their huge up front costs. I'd rather see a model more in line with say, MMORPG's, a modest startup cost and either a subscription or microtransactions to help keep things going.

[MrJimmyPie]

If these places are dodgy enough to sell fake software to customers then what else are they doing to rip people off? You can bet your bottom dollar these are the kind of outfit's that sell second hand parts as new, and charge customers for work that has not even been done! We could not risk selling dodgy software of any kind as we would be stripped all of our Microsoft accreditation and the trust of the local home user and business community. The only sad thing here is not many people will find out about what these charlatans are doing and will still use them! The stupid thing is they are just doing themselves out of pocket at the end of the day. And you can be sure that these tin pot outfits will be in trouble now because if you get caught then it’s gonna cost ya! And by the look of some of these places they better hope they can re-mortgage the house. If you value your business then keep it legal !

[Norman Ellis]

It has been very apparent to us for many years that software piracy is on the increase.

As an independent VAR / Retailer, we receive many PC's for repair, that do not have COA labels attached, or they may have XP Home COA, but have XPPRO installed, in the majority of cases the customers are innocent victims, and are shocked when we inform them that to make their PC legal, then a new license must be purchased.

Some accept, but most of our customers decline, which means by trading legally we are actually losing business.

It is very welcoming that Michala Wardle, Head of Microsoft OEM and Piracy UK, is tackling this threat, which in addition to ripping off Microsoft is also robbing the consumers and the small independent businesses.

In addition to running a small business, I am also a founding committee member of ITACS. Independent Trade Association of Computing Specialists.

ITACS welcomes the new initiatives taken by Microsoft and we look forward to working with Microsoft in reducing software piracy in the UK.

Norman

[Jay]

I think MS make it so hard to get this right.

I called them and askes if the 5 CAL COA that comes with the OEM 2003 Server is user or device and 3 times I got the same answer "I don't know"

I have had to sort out an upgrade here from 2000 to 2003 and its just a nightmare to get right and the MS call center is useless.

I also think that the cost of software and licensing is way way over inflated this shows by the HUGE amount of profit Microsoft makes every year and I think that this needs to be looked at.

[nichomach]

I agree, Jay, and it doesn't help when they completely **** up the Eopen site so that instead of showing you your products and how many licenses you have for each it generates a bull**** "license statement" that doesn't include all the licenses that the old product summary showed, and then tell you to re-add the products manually when you point this out. Retards.

[Sinizter]

All legit at work.

Most good software is way overpriced for home use. But the company in question would still benefit even if they gave it away for free to home/non-commercial users - people who wouldnt pay for it anyway, but would use this software if they ever went into a commercial environment requiring it.

As for windows licenses, if I bought a license, I will install onto as many different computers as I want - as long as it is installed only one place at a time. I bought the right to use the software as far as I am concerned and I will use it as I see fit. If I want to move it from one computer to another, I will.

That last bit was probably not relevant to this thread ... Got carried away.