First day It support...

[Ev0]

If staff are found using illegal software is it not still the company that is held responsible?

The CFO is ultimately responsible as an individual and is the person who would/could be prosecuted along with the company, in theory.

As people have said, if it's Vista Business (most likely) or Ultimate that the machines are currently licensed for then there's nothing illegal about it at all.

How big is the company out of interest?

 

[QlimaxUK]

Become a farmer. It's far, far less depressing.

until u get swine flu

 

[Mr-White]

Okay ive got this new job on the first day they want me to do something illegal.
Do I blow it off completely or do I go there and suggest alternative?

This job isnt well paid really doing it as a favour, just dont like the way this is
going. I don't want to get myself in trouble and I do not want them to get
in trouble.

Advice / Experiences please.

If you don't know or disagree with something just ask, I'm sure there's a logical explanation.

MW

 

[Nix]

It's a release candidate which expires, Microsoft aren't a charity. Also, would you really use a non-final product in a business?

I wouldn't know what's going on. I didn't look into it, so for all I knew it could've just been a marketing strategy to get a few eager people (being that 99% of PC users won't bother) to make the move and spread the word.

Personally, no I wouldn't. I even made the point to a friend the other day that I wouldn't want to make the move until at least SP2, etc.

 

[Janesy B]

The CFO is ultimately responsible as an individual and is the person who would/could be prosecuted along with the company, in theory.

Someone at a company I used to work for (an ISP of all places!) downloaded a movie torrent, the company got caught out and was sue and the person still kept his job and wasn't prosecuted! I think it's hard to prove the exact individual so it falls back on the company.

 

[BigglesPiP]

Deploying a RELEASE CANDIDATE into a live environment is not a wise idea, anything beta or RC should not be deployed.

Very much so.

I use Xubuntu 8.04LTS (> 1 year stable) on my work machine.

Some of our customers test our stable releases themselves before using it on their main cluster/s.

 

[Dewotter]

I use Windows 7 at work and it's fine, but I think there's something in the License agreement that prohibits this as it's still pre-release software.

 

[RoachycaL]

Agreed. Pretty standard in the Corporate environment. Our Dells come with Vista Business installed and we put an XP image on them - all perfectly legal.

Just out of curiosity where can you legally get an XP image without having to buy a disk? Would it be *legal* to download an image from a torrent site then use the vista key on the side of the machines? Can you buy the disk without a licence or can you just order a VLK disk from ms?

This has always been a really fuzzy area for me, fair enough you can install XP over vista legally - however how do you LEGALLY obtain the copy of XP?

If the OP still browses this thread, just do as your boss says - I'm the same age as you and Id say it would put us in quite an awkward position if we refused to do do things our employer wanted us to (within reason )

 

[D D Danneh]

You really think Bill Gates is gonna come knocking on your door and ask to inspect your computers to ensure your downgrade from Vista to XP was legal?

 

[fallbayuk]

As an IT support newb, you're lucky they're not just giving you printer problems to fix.

 

[Caged]

You really think Bill Gates is gonna come knocking on your door and ask to inspect your computers to ensure your downgrade from Vista to XP was legal?

No because Bill Gates doesn't head up Microsoft any more. What's the point in paying for licenses if you aren't going to adhere to the terms contained within, might as well just torrent all your software.

 

[A2Z]

might as well just torrent all your software.

you mean people actually buy software?

 

[Saundie]

Just out of curiosity where can you legally get an XP image without having to buy a disk? Would it be *legal* to download an image from a torrent site then use the vista key on the side of the machines? Can you buy the disk without a licence or can you just order a VLK disk from ms?

This has always been a really fuzzy area for me, fair enough you can install XP over vista legally - however how do you LEGALLY obtain the copy of XP?

If you are on an Enterprise or Select agreement, you get a login for licensing.microsoft.com from which you can download any software that you are licensed for. With an EA with software assurance you are entitled to run the latest version and the two previous ones, so at the moment you coudl have Vista, XP and 2000. Unfortunately I cannot recall how it works with Select Agreements, or EAs without SA, but you can certainly get the media from that site. You could also torrent the ISO if it's easier for you, the disc is useless without a product key so there's no problem in obtaining it any way you like.

Edit; as for the question of "what's the worst that could happen?", somebody could report your company to the Federation Against Software Theft, who will investigate the claims. According to the site, "On indictment a defendant, if proven guilty, could face an unlimited fine and up to ten years imprisonment per offence". So the answer is; a terrible punishment, actually.

 

[Ev0]

Someone at a company I used to work for (an ISP of all places!) downloaded a movie torrent, the company got caught out and was sue and the person still kept his job and wasn't prosecuted! I think it's hard to prove the exact individual so it falls back on the company.

I really can't remember but had an intresting lecture/talk at a SAM conference a few months ago from a legal bod about it and think that this would be different to a case of software license infringement. Must dig out the notes now (as it'll bug me!), remember him saying something about copyright infringement but can't remember if he said that's what it was classed as when you broke the terms of the license.

But yes it's the company and the CFO who are liable.

Just out of curiosity where can you legally get an XP image without having to buy a disk? Would it be *legal* to download an image from a torrent site then use the vista key on the side of the machines? Can you buy the disk without a licence or can you just order a VLK disk from ms?

This has always been a really fuzzy area for me, fair enough you can install XP over vista legally - however how do you LEGALLY obtain the copy of XP?

I log on to my MS licensing/Technet website and download it

Edit; as for the question of "what's the worst that could happen?", somebody could report your company to the Federation Against Software Theft, who will investigate the claims. According to the site, "On indictment a defendant, if proven guilty, could face an unlimited fine and up to ten years imprisonment per offence". So the answer is; a terrible punishment, actually.

Although as yet no one has been sent to prison for this in the UK yet, and it unlikely to be as most cases are settled one way or another. Another thing that can, and does, happen is that a company like Oracle/Microsoft, if they believe after some investigation you are breaching license conditions, can order you to stop using their software immediately. Imagine the disruption to a business if that happened.

SAM is one of those things that people don't like to do, and it's often hard getting management to realise it's needed, but as well as being a ballache it can also save you a lot of money in the long run.

 

[HungryHippos]

Change vista to windows [xp] without paying, not sure what their setup is they might have licences on the boxs buttt still doesnt fill me with confidence...

Suggest windows 7 maybe, if free download is still on?

Not a big deal, machines we buy come with vista on them, first thing I do is GHOST an image of whatever I want to install over the top. Of course we have VLK's so it's not a problem, I assume your company probably does too

 

[Ucof]

At one of my old jobs, the bosses wanted me to use a cracked copy of Dreamweaver to do some website work on.

I downright refused to use the illegal software and they threw a hissy fit.

I ended up handing in my notice a few days later. Not mainly due to the software, I was partly looking for an excuse and had wanted to leave for ages. It was more of a catalyst to leaving.

Im *much* happier now