[ale] OSS in the real world : licenses = friction = cost

[George Allen]

It's true.

What list is that?

On 8/26/10, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:
> A quote from another mailing I'm on (OSS in military) had me chuckling -
> equating software piracy prosecution to small arms fire and IEDs.
>
> --quote--
> I'm trying to express the licensing pains that we have all felt in the
> field.  The vast majority of MS installations are on "pirated" licenses -
> and there is a myth that the services have an "enterprise licenses."
> Someone called to get the "Enterprise License" code and we were informed
> that licenses were all associated with various system purchases, and that
> someone at the unit was supposed to be keeping track of all the licenses.
> Of course this was not occurring - so we added "software piracy prosecution"
> to the "Operational Risk Management" matrix along with small arms fire, IED
> attack, vehicle accident, vehicle mishap and dehydration.
> --end quote--
>
> Thus the growth of Open Source Software in military and all branches of
> government. It's not always "official" but like in corporate IT shops, it
> comes in with the tech crowd "below the radar" until it reaches a critical
> mass and some management person realizes they have both good tools and cost
> savings using these things. Then it becomes "official". Then it becomes
> mandatory. Then we win!
>
> --
> --
> James P. Kinney III
> I would rather stumble along in freedom than walk effortlessly in chains.
>

-- 
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