Microsoft Suit pushes company to open source
posted 23 January 2006, Monday
Microsoft recevied an out-of-court settlement of R3 million from the Durban Government's council several years ago. This was due to the council's 1000 or so computers with unlicensed Microsoft software. Originally, Microsoft demanded R8 million from the council in order to meet compliance.
The compliance demand appears to have been a risk to the long term sales. As, the Durban council decided open source was a smarter business decision, in terms of cost. Could this be a smart decision for all business? With the costs associated with compliance audits, potential fines and litigation costs, the expense can be daunting. A smart business descision to go open source limits this exposure to these licensing issues, suit happy lawyers and the weight of an audit team. This removes software, litigation and audit costs keeping the money on the bottom line.
Open source from this point of view makes good business sense. As, business' and governments such as Durban, are exposed to these litiigation issues and license compliancy risks the open source alternative appaers to be a smart choice.
In terms of a business or government, as an example, the one element of this licensing problem is the staff. The staff tries to get work done and no budget exists, but the work has to be done. Its easy to copy software on to the desktop to get the work done and management is then satisfied. This puts the business and employee at risk and the propagation of illegal software occurs. This occurs more often than we care to admit. However, the problem on the other side of the equation is not to be ignored, either. The worker needing the software and the business taking all the risk has to be solved. As these lawsuits and license compliance issues become more familiar for businesses and employees the open source solutions may become more attractive. To get work done, with out litigation risks, eventaully, open source becomse the solution. Popularity gains support and the open source, in general, increase in terms of features and quality as a result of popularity.
As open source becomes more attractive, applications like Open Office have a real opportunity to gain popularity. As popularity grows, community evolves and applications can be elevated to World Class levels of quality. As this community establishes itself the chance that the product will mature in support, features and quality becomes a safer proposition.
As proprietary systems take aim toward licensing compliance, lawsuits and fines companies could turn toward open source as a safe haven!! There are many things to consider for the proprietary vs open source argument. However, with the software costs to keep compliant there may only be one solution to avoid the risks, simply open source!
The compliance demand appears to have been a risk to the long term sales. As, the Durban council decided open source was a smarter business decision, in terms of cost. Could this be a smart decision for all business? With the costs associated with compliance audits, potential fines and litigation costs, the expense can be daunting. A smart business descision to go open source limits this exposure to these licensing issues, suit happy lawyers and the weight of an audit team. This removes software, litigation and audit costs keeping the money on the bottom line.
Open source from this point of view makes good business sense. As, business' and governments such as Durban, are exposed to these litiigation issues and license compliancy risks the open source alternative appaers to be a smart choice.
In terms of a business or government, as an example, the one element of this licensing problem is the staff. The staff tries to get work done and no budget exists, but the work has to be done. Its easy to copy software on to the desktop to get the work done and management is then satisfied. This puts the business and employee at risk and the propagation of illegal software occurs. This occurs more often than we care to admit. However, the problem on the other side of the equation is not to be ignored, either. The worker needing the software and the business taking all the risk has to be solved. As these lawsuits and license compliance issues become more familiar for businesses and employees the open source solutions may become more attractive. To get work done, with out litigation risks, eventaully, open source becomse the solution. Popularity gains support and the open source, in general, increase in terms of features and quality as a result of popularity.
As open source becomes more attractive, applications like Open Office have a real opportunity to gain popularity. As popularity grows, community evolves and applications can be elevated to World Class levels of quality. As this community establishes itself the chance that the product will mature in support, features and quality becomes a safer proposition.
As proprietary systems take aim toward licensing compliance, lawsuits and fines companies could turn toward open source as a safe haven!! There are many things to consider for the proprietary vs open source argument. However, with the software costs to keep compliant there may only be one solution to avoid the risks, simply open source!
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