License Compliance Gets New Look

Although Microsoft’s pursuit of software pirates remains vigorous, the company is softening its approach in an effort to reduce unintended negative consequences from the aggressive tone that has marked some license compliance efforts in the past. The company is also engaging partners in the effort to increase license compliance, promoting it as a revenue and customer relationship opportunity.

The Aggressive Approach

Microsoft’s longstanding efforts to combat software piracy have sometimes resorted to tactics that brought little credit to the company or its major partner an antipiracy efforts, the Business Software Alliance (BSA). These efforts often rely on anonymous information or tips, sometimes from disgruntled workers who have an interest in inconveniencing a former employer, who may be forced to seek legal counsel and conduct a software audit even if they are innocent. Blanket mailings from the BSA to small businesses, warning them of the dire consequences of using unlicensed software, did little to endear the antipiracy team to customers. Once reported to the BSA, violators were not given an opportunity to make good before penalties were levied or were publicly embarrassed as a warning to other violators. During one (quickly cancelled) campaign, Microsoft even encouraged resellers to tattle on their own customers by telling Microsoft when a customer ordered large numbers of PCs without preinstalled operating systems.