🚀 go-pugleaf

johnston@minnie.me.udel.edu (Bill Johnston) writes:

>In article <25662@unix.SRI.COM> mxmora@sri-unix.sri.com (Matt Mora) writes:
>>P.S. Please no flames about how you hate this program already. If
>>people (or companies) didn't steal software there wouldn't be a need for
>>this program.

>Sorry, Matt.  This is a flame;  and no, I haven't seen SPAudit yet,
>so it's going to be a flame of the worst sort:  biased and uninformed.

Matt's mistake here was to include a case for his position. He could have
said "please leave me alone; I'm doing this regardless of what you say,
because I'm under contract." Eveidently, the expression of his real
opinion on the matter was just too much for you.

>To be a bit less fair,  I would also characterize them as an industry
>"hit squad" who look after the interests of the big software houses.
>I don't know who pays their electric bill, but I haven't heard of any
>small-time developer who has kicked in $$ for SPA.

If you're not going to be fair, why present this opinion at all?

(By the way, we're one of the smallest developers I know of, and we've
certainly paid our dues to the SPA.)

>From the description offered by Mr. Mora, SPAudit seems to be software 
>tool designed to facilitate corporate software-witch-hunts.  In other
>words, a convenience for the person whose happy task is to skulk through 
>the office after hours and document the contents of everyone's hard disk
>for comparison against the corporate 'master list'.

If you had read a bit more carefully, you'd see that that's not what it is
at all. It's not an exclusionary list. It doesn't find things that aren't
on the list and complain. It finds things that ARE on the list. If you're
running Microsoft Word, and your witch-hunter can't find a license for you,
he tells you to stop. However, if you're running Joe Idiot's Buggy Window
Toy, 'BWT ' is not going to set off alarms.

>Will this put another nickel in the pocket of ANYBODY in the software
>industry?  The answer is no, it will not.

I don't know if it will or not. But you certainly haven't presented a case
either way here.

> [most of scenario deleted]

>His head is spinning ... is it a virus threat? ... are we going to
>be sued for having bootleg software?   To add insult to injury, 
>one of the _women_ in the office tried to tell him how to fix the 
>network ... and she was right!  What can Fred do to regain control 
>of this horrible situation?

He can get himself fired, that's what. This guy is obviously a panic-
ridden imbecile. Not only will he not last long in his job, but he's
a fantasy. MIS guys are pure evil, granted. They're on species complexity
chart somewhere between consultants and vertebrates. But this guy goes
way too far.

>Fred buys SPAudit and a few weeks later everybody gets a memo 
>from Fred's boss announcing that from now on the "approved" 
>software list will be enforced...

These guys obviously didn't read the manual. Their SPAudit list is not
exhaustive. If they feel a need to pretend that it is, then Nancy
needs to go to Fred's boss and tell him exactly why Fred is
incompetent. If Fred's boss won't listen, it's time for Nancy to look
for another job, because this is likely only a symptom of what
a rotten place to work she's got.

> [more examples of just how incompetent Fred is]

Any information is a weapon in the hands of an incompetent DOS wirehead.
Idiots like this can manage amazing things. They can specify that
the monitor run at a certain scan rate supported by monitors made
only by IBM. This guy is not only incompetent, he's malicious --
what principle does he illustrate?

>So, who benefits from SPAudit ... besides Mr. Mora?  Could it be
>the companies who front the money for SPA?  The ones who are on 
>"THE LIST"?   I think you know the answer ...

And a mighty innocuous one it is, at that. Of *course* the SPA members
benefit. Shouldn't they? Or should they just give software away?
OK, you're right, I think I'll go on welfare. By the way, your taxes
will be going up next year.
-- 
 Pete Gontier, gurgle@well.sf.ca.us
 Software Imagineer, Kiwi Software, Inc.