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from the how-to-drive-away-your-customers dept.
El Reg reports (on 27 Mar)
Software providers such as Microsoft and Oracle are aggressively targeting public sector customers with licence "audit reviews" in a bid to plug falling subscription revenue, according to research. Over one-third of the 436 councils surveyed across the UK have been subject to at least one software licence review in the last 20 months, according to a report from software licensing costs advice company Cerno. Of those, 60 per cent were found to be "under-licensed" and hit with a penalty of up to £50,000.
Out of 132 universities, one quarter have been subject to at least one software licence audit in the last 20 months, it said. "This survey confirms considerable activity in licence reviews by the major software vendors - principally Oracle and Microsoft - and, critically, the high incidence of penalty demands following the review," said Robin Fry, co-founder of Cerno.
gewg_ notes that the solution adopted last century by Dave Richards of the City of Largo, Florida and by Ernie Ball, Inc. keep looking better and better. (It cost the California company $100,000 before they saw the light.)
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2015, @02:59AM
What if Software licences could be Free?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by sigma on Tuesday April 07 2015, @05:40AM
What if Software licences could be Free?
That's part of the reason MS has to lean so heavily on their remaining customers.
Windows sales fell more than 13% in the first quarter of this year, but MS is under intense pressure to maintain revenue. Because of their former monopoly status as computer operating system provider, the result is much like the Utility Death Spiral [greentechmedia.com].
10 More and more customers migrate to better alternatives.
20 Fewer and fewer remain to pay for the fixed cost of maintaining MS's expected revenue stream.
30 Microsoft strong-arms more and more heavily on their remaining locked-in customers.
40 Customers have more incentive to search for ways to unlock and leave.
50 Goto 10.
Of course, MS knows this, which is why they're embracing the alternatives and dropping puff-piece press releases about open sourcing Windows [extremetech.com]. It'll be interesting to see if they succeed in escaping the spiral.