[ale] A call to Audit M$...

[James P. Kinney III]

I got the BSA letter as well. I employ no one! Literally! I'm it.

Wow, I guess I'll have kick over some $$ for that old Win95 CD that
shipped with my laptop in 1996 that now runs Linux. I am currently using
that CD as a coffee cup coaster as I write this. Can CD's be read with
coffee rings still on them? I microwaved an NT3.51 disk set. Ditto for 5
copies NT4.0 that were OEMs with work PC's. Work installed newly
licensed bulk version of the same OS (no serial required). We gave them
out like door prizes for a while. Or at least tried to. Nobody wanted
them. I put a box that said FREE on it outside my door. In it I had
shrink-wrapped NT4 sets with manuals et al, and jewel cased copies of
RedHat 6.1 (latest at the time). No one took an NT set. I burned about
12 sets of the Linux CD's. Hmmm.

On Sat, 2002-05-11 at 18:57, Jonathan Rickman wrote:
> On Fri, 10 May 2002, phrostie wrote:
> 
> > you know i was thinking the same thing today.
> > i'd be happy with more mainstream press coverage of the MS/BSA  "audits".
> > no one beleaves me that this stuff is going on.
> 
> I honestly don't understand why people don't believe you. The letters are
> VERY widespread. I've had local business owners call me about them. I'm
> talking SMALL business owners!!! A small engine repair shop that employs
> 3, a hair salon that employs 6, and an insurance agency that employs an
> astounding 2...yes 2...people. My advice to them was very simple, trash
> the letter. If MS wants to inventory their software, they can get a
> warrant, provided they have probable cause...which they don't. All three
> of the places are now considering Linux with Open Office for their next PC
> upgrades. Microsoft is doing us a favor by pulling these stunts.
> 
> On another note, several people have pointed out that MS is not the only
> company using these strongarm tactics, but if anyone thinks this BSA (I
> wont divulge my thoughts on what the acronym stands for) crap isn't
> primarily driven by Redmond...they need a serious reality check.
> 
> -- 
> Jonathan Rickman
> X Corps Security
> http://www.xcorps.net
> 
> 
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-- 
James P. Kinney III   \Changing the mobile computing world/
President and CEO      \          one Linux user         /
Local Net Solutions,LLC \           at a time.          /
770-493-8244             \.___________________________./

GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
<jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7 




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