CNET News: Rockin’ on Without Microsoft

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Aug 21, 2003

[ Thanks to John
Stracke
for this link. ]

“Q: Can you start by giving us a brief rundown of how
you became an open-source advocate?

“A: I became an open-source guy because we’re a
privately owned company, a family business that’s been around for
30 years, making products and being a good member of society. We’ve
never been sued, never had any problems paying our bills. And one
day I got a call that there were armed marshals at my door talking
about software license compliance…I thought I was OK; I buy
computers with licensed software. But my lawyer told me it could be
pretty bad.

“The BSA had a program back then called ‘Nail Your Boss,’ where
they encouraged disgruntled employees to report on their
company…and that’s what happened to us. Anyways, they basically
shut us down…We were out of compliance I figure by about 8
percent (out of 72 desktops)…”

Complete
Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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