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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: 5, Insightful) by davester666 on Tuesday April 07 2015, @06:04AM
"come back to get them"? how? it's not like they have to pay for the software and/or fines out of their own pocket. and you aren't going to vote them out of office for bungling this.
instead, everyone in the UK will have to pay an additional pound so Microsoft and Oracle can make their numbers for this quarter.
(Score: 3, Informative) by TheRaven on Tuesday April 07 2015, @10:22AM
sudo mod me up