technologyAugust 19, 2002

License and Registration Please

I received a letter from the BSA (Business Software Alliance) that began: 'You may have heard that the Business Software Alliance is investigating San Diego area organizations that use unlicensed software.' It went on to threaten 'penalties sometimes totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.'

What's disturbing is the tact of putting forth unsubstantiated accusations with their 'assume everyone is guilty approach.' No other industry treats their customers as criminals by default. Can you imagine getting such a letter from the music industry about your CD collection?

For the BSA's demand to see my 'license and registration,' I'll let them know I'm running LindowsOS — all the software on my computer is from the Lindows.com Warehouse. For $99, a user can access 1,000+ programs with a single click — no serial numbers, no activation codes, no complex tracking.

Michael Robertson, Lindows.com

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