IT Management Always Blames the Worker Bees 266
An anonymous reader writes "A refreshing dose of sanity, It Management Fail: Always Blame the Worker Bees counters Security fail: When trusted IT people go bad, which advocates the usual reactive and punitive Big Brother measures for keeping those icky, untrustworthy IT staffers in line. Management really needs to look in the mirror when IT screws up."
God forbid... (Score:2)
...that IT folks do the job they're paid to do without stealing!
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But it's not stealing. It's copyright infringment!!! Well, at least as long as it's not a GPLed piece of software because then it's stealing!!!
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I'm pretty sure bandwidth, equipment, and credit card numbers don't fall under the GPL in most cases.
Re:God forbid... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure they might do that.. If they were well paid and treated with respect instead of treated like a replaceable nameless cog in a giant machine.
Silly... i know... But hey.. If you want respect and loyality from the worker... You have to show them some yourself.
The workers are learning the lesson business is teaching them. Get whatever you can by any means. The only thing that matters is the bottom line.
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The workers are learning the lesson business is teaching them. Get whatever you can by any means. The only thing that matters is the bottom line.
It's not just business that teaches that lesson. Anyone who's been reading /. for long has read the claims here that profit is the only legitimate business goal. Some have even claimed that corporate management can be sued for doing things that interfere with making a profit. I've occasionally that they cite cases where such prosecution has happened, and gotten no reply, but people keep saying such things, and asserting that this is how a business should behave.
The idea that it's proper to do anything yo
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The problem for IT folks is, they are stuck in a no-win scenario of trying to handle a series of completely contradictory orders.
Order #1: "Make our systems bulletproof-secure."
Ok, fine. Minimal level of needed access; if you need to read the files in that network location, you can have read permission. If you need to create/edit in there, we'll grant you those permissions when the time comes. If you need software installed, see an admin.
Order #2: "Stop getting in our users' way! Marcy says she can't instal
Re:God forbid... (Score:5, Insightful)
You treat me like something you can squeeze work from and throw away when there's nothing left, so I treat you like something I can squeeze money from and throw away when there's nothing left.
The prisoner's dilemma optimal solution applies. I cooperate and adapt. You cooperate, so will I. You defect, so will I.
Re:God forbid... (Score:4, Funny)
Agreed, I'm pretty well paid and treated like a real person at my workplace, hence I hardly ever steal and keep my illegal porn operation small enough to not tax the company servers way to much.
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Respect is earned -- if you demand it, it's not deserved. No exceptions.
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Re:God forbid... (Score:4, Insightful)
Or decency, which indeed should be bestowed upon everyone, perhaps especially on those who don't deserve it.
But respect? No, that has to be earned. That's what makes it respect. Like with love, you can pretend to respect someone, but unless you feel it, it will be a sham. And again like love, when it's mutual, it truly blossoms. If one part fakes it, it doesn't.
In other words: No, I won't respect you in the morning. You haven't earned it. I will treat you with decency and consideration, though. Not because you deserve it, but because it's what's keeps me on the path from caveman towards civilization. May we one day get there.
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Hey, no where in my contract with the company did I sign "I will not set up a porn server on the network".
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I'm pretty sure that would fall under misuse (or personal use) of company assets...
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I think the CEO shoulda just asked for a cut.
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I'm pretty sure [running a porn server] would fall under misuse (or personal use) of company assets...
Only if you take all the profits yourself, and don't share them with management.
Re:God forbid... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:God forbid... (Score:5, Insightful)
The German's and French have been doing it for a very long time without their society collapsing.
And the English, and the Australians, and the New Zealanders...
I'm sure several more countries have similar attitudes, best described as "you're an adult, we trust you to behave yourself and make adult decisions, and if you don't, well, you're also adult enough to take the consequences". I just mention the places with whose work structures I'm personally familiar. The U.S., on the other hand...urgh...forget it, or at least on the east coast (everywhere I've worked, from Maine down to Georgia). In a country where personal rights are ferociously guarded, I don't know why this should be so, but I follow it so I won't get fired.
Re:God forbid... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:God forbid... (Score:5, Insightful)
No, the problem is that some Americans have not had an evolution in their moral makeup since the Puritans landed.
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totally. the friday pub lunch is sacred. even the worst place i've ever worked at allowed a friday pub lunch.
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I've been wondering for the longest time why managers (and people who consider themselves that) expect (and often get) bigger salaries.
First it was the superior knowledge and their managing skills. That was debunked quickly when I was in a team with a manager somewhere in the Middle East (which had nothing whatsoever to do with the project) and we had to manage ourselves, without any drawbacks. If anything, work went more smoothly.
Then it was the increased risk. Which was recently debunked with the bailouts
Re:God forbid... (Score:4, Insightful)
Ability to:
Some people can, some can't. And yes, many managers fail at this too.
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Re:God forbid... (Score:4, Insightful)
Otherwise known as "soft skills". I.e. not acting like a complete tool around those who live by the dictum "time is money" and thinking they're a lot funnier than they really are.
You'd think this isn't that difficult, but every day I'm constantly amazed by how many people I encounter who handily demonstrate otherwise and then proceed to moan about their managers.
Who's ultimately to blame? (Score:3)
I blame God for this. It's clear who fucked up in all cases. If this were a perfect universe, I might let him slide, but NO MORE!!1!
The "Bad" the original article refers to is _bad_ (Score:2)
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I have a little sympathy for "Sally". What she did was wrong and I don't condone it, but the article (clearly written from a management perspective), is rather cavalier about the company just essentially eliminating their IT department. Cost cutting is as cost cutting does, and I don't know the whole story (it may have really been a necessary measure), but the whole thing is treated kinda like "Oh well she was just a little upset because she was being let go." As opposed to "She was rightfully pretty damn
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Sally gets no sympathy for her response just as her management gets no sympathy for what produced it. But yeah, if it was just hers I might not have posted. Other cases presented (as real, bs-meters didn't twitch) ... flat criminals, given no-oversight keys to core business systems.
So I also don't agree with your summary of the takeaway. You've got an organization that large, you're obligated to protect it. You're admin'ing a large server, do you turn off security because having it on is insulting? N
Re:The "Bad" the original article refers to is _ba (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't agree with her response, just think she is more sympathetic than the others. My problem with the way the whole tale was presented was that the company's actions, which in my opinion were very nearly as bad as "Sally's" are glossed over as perfectly reasonable. Of course you outsource the entire department. Of course you don't tell anyone till the last possible moment. Of course you don't provide counseling or job search assistance.
While their points about escalation of privileged and job separation are perfectly valid, their most "valuable" piece of advice for this one appeared to be "Watch your employees close when you're about to screw them, the sneaky bastard probably figured it out." They didn't even bother to mention being open and honest with your staff, providing transition services or any of the other things the company could have to done to prevent or cushion the proximal cause of the employee anger.
Sure, watch people, especially people under stress. Sure, don't give people access to systems they don't need access too. Sure, make sure you know who has what keys. Also treat people with a bit of respect and don't fuck with them any more than you have to at a bad time.
Why WOULD anybody want to work in IT? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Protip: every job is like that. IT pays well, but attracts a lot of folks who seem to have an unwarranted sense of self importance.
Re:Why WOULD anybody want to work in IT? (Score:4, Insightful)
Be a cop. If you do your job perfectly and nothing happens, no one cares. But if you do your job even averagely and something interesting happens, you'll likely get a commendation for doing your job. And if you screw up and manage to shoot an innocent person (or beat someone because they mouthed off), everyone else in your organization, including management, won't point the finger at you and sell you out like IT. They start throwing around words like "justified" and "resisting arrest" and "danger to himself and others" even if you tase some kid just for asking questions and saying "don't tase me bro."
The great thing about your absolute assertions is that I only need prove one wrong to show your statement is 100% invalid. There are plenty of jobs out there where just doing your job will earn you accolades and not doing your job will get people to defend you, rather than hang you out to dry. IT may be a bit overpaid for an office admin position, but that's how most people see it. If you file everything perfectly, you'll get ignored. But file one thing wrong, and you'll get in trouble. IT is a high paid secretarial-level position. It's a waste of money, an expense that will never earn anything for the company, and they wish they could just replace you with a computer or something. But there are hundreds of other types of jobs out there, and they treat people much differently in them.
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In general, the sales staff is paid on commission. If they don't bring in the cash, they don't get paid.
Re:Why WOULD anybody want to work in IT? (Score:5, Funny)
...the fact that you can read and/or modify anyone's email at whim can be used to create an underlying fear in your co-workers?
I dunno... I got into the biz for the beer and the chicks. It's evident that I was lied to, but hey - at least I can still play with the neat tech toys as they arrive...
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My workstation is 5y old you insensitive clod!
(and much less comfortable than my home pc to work on)
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To many people, like is about recognition. many, many people.
So you actually are lucky. Being happy with what you have and of what you do, it's a blessing
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I
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Why would anybody want to work in INDUSTRY? If you do your job correctly, then everything runs smoothly, and you don't get any attention (or credit) at all. But as soon as something goes wrong, it's obviously because YOU FUCKED UP, and you get LOTS of attention! Other than money, can anyone cite an upside to working in INDUSTRY?
This statement remains equally true when replacing "INDUSTRY" with any line of work you care to name.
Why does this appear to be a revelation to you?
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It's not as true with Industry as it is in IT. Exceptional Industry activity shows a direct increased productivity. Either more stuff gets produced, or waste is minimized, etc etc.
Exceptional IT work basically means you are as un-noticable as possible. Nothing ever goes wrong, things never seem slow. Ideally you wouldn't even have to see them, they could probably fix your problem remotely in minutes.
There are far more tangible stuff in Industry that you can see instead of IT. When IT does well, everyone els
Re:Why WOULD anybody want to work in IT? (Score:5, Funny)
Other than money, can anyone cite an upside to working in IT?
Holy cow, did you even read TFA? The upside to working in IT is that you get to sell your own company pirated software, running a giant porn server from the company network, and stealing customer credit card numbers! Why WOULDN'T you work in IT?
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It's not my job to run the train, the whistle I can't blow.
It's not for me to say how far the train's allowed to go.
I'm not allowed to blow off steam, nor even clang the bell.
But let the damn thing jump the tracks....and see who catches hell!
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Like they say, you can always spot the extrovert in the IT department. He's the guy who stares at your shoes when he talks to you.
The thing I like most about IT is that I get to play with cool toys, solve neat problems, and beyon
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Sometimes it actually feels good to provide a smoothly running system to customers.
It isn't all bad stuff...
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not sure if money is all that good in IT anymore
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If you do your job correctly, then everything runs smoothly and you don't get any attention (or credit) at all. But as soon as something goes wrong, it's obviously because YOU FUCKED UP, and you get LOTS of attention! Other than money, can anyone cite an upside to working in IT?
If you can't answer that question yourself, and your circumstances allow, perhaps you should look into a career change.
Every job has it's downs. That's why it's a job not a hobby, and people get paid to do it. But if you can't find ANYTHING you like about your job a career change before it's too late might be the answer. Once you've got a family, the idea of changing and leaving your family without an income (esp. if you're the only bread winner) becomes less feasible.
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> Other than money, can anyone cite an upside to working in IT?
The chicks, man. The chicks.
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Alcoholism? Broken marriages? Dysfunctional children?
Sorry, I may have missed a couple.
Re:Why WOULD anybody want to work in IT? (Score:4, Insightful)
The same as every other department. The only difference between IT and accounting is the self-pity in IT.
...and the ratio of women to men.
Like that's ever going to change... (Score:3)
No, seriously. It won't. If you think Management is going to own up to a fault (especially a massive one) of their making, and risk losing job, career, etc? Heh... good luck with working under that assumption.
The best counter you can have against such a manager (especially one who consistently screws up) is to make sure you get a paper trail and project management chart all set - and get his signature on it! Then, be double-plus careful to note all changes and deviations, again with supporting evidence. It won't prevent an asshat from blaming you and/or your team anyway, but it will make fixing that blame much harder to do.
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I am soo
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The best counter you can have against such a manager (especially one who consistently screws up) is to make sure you get a paper trail and project management chart all set - and get his signature on it!
Heh. Many managers become very skilled at trying to avoid being nailed down by paper trails. One of the tactics is to try and get things done by phone where it's your word against theirs and they try and convince you that certain things have been agreed when you know fine well they haven't. I've had experience of this recently, and I've become equally adept at not answering the phone to her and only agreeing things via a collaboration system that copies in all interested parties (that's where e-mail is good
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Some IT Managers are Quick to... (Score:4, Informative)
What does this have to do with anything? My boss really liked the other person and did not want to tell people in a business meeting that the project was late due to him taking too long. I got thrown under the bus since according to my boss, "if it was going to take that long for the senior developer, I should have gotten my portion done in 4 days instead of the 7 I took".
Some IT managers will blame everything on the "worker bees" (even if it was the manager himself who pulled in an unrealistic due date when he personally knew how busy the senior developer was). He knew that the senior developer could not get the project done in time and needed a scape goat or whatever it is called, so it was all pinned on me. I will not say all of them, because I have had some incredible IT managers as well.
Re:Some IT Managers are Quick to... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Some IT Managers are Quick to... (Score:4, Insightful)
I agree with sibling. There are numerous ways to run a union. Furthermore, I'm of the opinion that unions have a bad rap because they piss off the top dogs in a company by demanding higher wages and healthy working conditions. And its these top dogs that then push this idea that unions are the root of all EVIL.
For Joe Average, they're actually a godsend by ensuring workers have a voice. Are you really getting your money's worth by paying into union dues? Unless you've elected a dunce of a representative, of course you are! It ensures employees have a seat at the decision making table, rather than getting railroaded. (Ergo the bargaining table, not the 'employer (or employee) is 110% right' table)
With IT making up such an important component of business now-a-days, there is no reason a worker should be treated like 80 hours per week, on-call weekends, cubicalized disposable refuse. Especially when you have CEO X crying out that they couldn't possibly afford unions, when he (and localized lackeys) still gets a massive end-of-year bonus.
(Of course, in the hopes of not being fired/ever being hired, I'm posting as ac)
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Some managers prefer to rule by fear. Unrealistic schedules allow them to arbitrarily assign blame; because everyone is behind schedule on paper, no one can effectively defend themselves to charges of slacking.
You know the old saying (Score:2)
For want of a nail...
This is a fundamental flaw (Score:2)
This is a fundamental flaw of top-down command and control, probably helped by a cover up culture.
Lack of communications (Score:4, Insightful)
There are a few things I've seen in work places that really contribute to the bashing:
1. Suits who won't talk to IT staff
2. IT staff that won't talk to suits
3. Both sides bitch about the other behind closed doors and the grapevine still passes the scuttlebutt
4. Both sides having a superiority complex
I'd encourage the IT staffs to go and talk with your management. You'll be glad you did.
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"Talk to" isn't the problem, I've yet to meet a manager who didn't like the sound of his own voice. "Listen to", however, is a totally different kettle of fish.
hmmm... (Score:3)
For i until Bankrupt = 'yes'
Huge problem happens...
IT leadership is canned...
New guy/girl comes in...
BIG CHANGE!!!
MASSIVE HIRING!!!
BIG PROJECTS!!!
Bill comes...
VPs panic... there are charts and graphs depicting the panic in graphic detail...
IT leadership is canned...
Change canceled...
Layoffs...
Projects canceled...
New IT leadership declares the "Restructuring" was a "Massive success"
Next i
Nothing new... (Score:4, Insightful)
This is nothing new. Any industry is exactly the same. Blame it on whatever you like.
I used to work in IT - management would screw over the staff at a moments notice for no readily apparent reason.
I now work in Healthcare - where managed screw over the staff at a moments notice for no readily apparent reason.
It's called Capitalism.
Related programmer joke... (Score:5, Funny)
Reminds me of the programmer joke:
A man flying in a hot air balloon suddenly realizes he’s lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts to get directions, "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"
The man below says: "Yes. You're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field."
"You must work in Information Technology," says the balloonist.
"I do" replies the man. "How did you know?"
"Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but It's of no use to anyone."
The man below replies, "You must work in management."
"I do," replies the balloonist, "But how'd you know?"*
"Well", says the man, "you don’t know where you are or where you’re going, but you expect me to be able to help. You’re in the same position you were before we met, but now it’s my fault."
Mod parent up... (Score:2)
...like a hot air balloon.
Seriously, that was the best thing in this thread so far.
The Wreckers (Score:3)
Look at oldschool Russian communism. Anytime something went wrong, they'd tortue/interrogate/imprison anyone in order to extol the virtues of communism. In fact, they'd rather throw hundreds of people under the bus than admit that maybe they might possibly potentially be a problem. Sound familiar? Businesses are the same way.
The people in charge will do absolutely anything to remain in charge. This includes cherry picking the most complacent and defeated workers, and even creating the most complacent and defeated workers through a long series of soul crushing punishments. Like punishing you with menial labor if you finish your assigned duties before the end date. Put in 110% once? Congratulations, that 110% is now your 100%. You'll miss that raise for not giving even more than that when someone else makes tiny but consistent improvements over a few years, even though you work twice as fast, more efficiently, etc.
The end result is a crushed and defeated workforce. You can see this when people are too terrified to say hi to their supervisors or higher ups when they see them out in public. They instead avert their eyes in shame. Same thing in Russia, back in the day. You don't talk to a member of the Party because you might get interrogated.
Re:sigh (Score:4, Funny)
The guy who sneaks into your bookstore with a portable scanner and makes a copy of a book and leaves without buying anything isn't a "customer."
No, that's what we call "a potential customer".
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Literally loled on that one. Good job.
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Yeah, that's true for situations where the only copies of the software being run are pirated. And you're right that many a pirate mislabels himself a customer without understanding that, as they're doing squat to support the company that makes the software they pirate, said company has no incentive to play nice.
But the situation with the BSA threatening to sue isn't usually that black and white. Far more often you have a situation where a company is running legitimate copies of BSA software on their machi
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You're not suggesting that this is an unreasonable course of action are you?
If you're audited, and found to have 500 legal copies of the software running on 1500 systems, demanding that the person who is in violation of the license terms pay for the other 100
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Yeah, I wasn't coming down on either side of the argument there - I wasn't condoning or condemning the BSA's actions in that hypothetical case, just stating that that's their standard MO.
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Fair enough. I just had to ask because TFA describes them as an "extortion racket," and it strikes me that if that's what they do, it doesn't seem all that unreasonable.
I can understand why the BSA would be antithetical to FOSS types, but what you described doesn't sound like particularly vicious tactics.
Re:sigh (Score:5, Insightful)
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You're right, FOSS types never sue anyone for violating a license. Except when they do. [bing.com]
Violating a license from a developer, whether that license comes with a dollar tag or not, is not something responsible IT folks should encourage.
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That was the opposite of what I was trying to get across. The BSA increases the visibility of license compliance as a serious issue (a good thing for FOSS), while being total thugs about it (also a good thing for FOSS). It's win/win.
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But that has nothing to do with the BSA.
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The thing is that history suggests that they will sock a company with HUGE fines if they find that they can only prove they bought 1450 copies when they're running 1500. They are not interested in the idea that it was an innocent mistake or that the paperwork might be lost in the shuffle. They will demand far more than the cost of the 50 copies.
The entire air around them reads like "that's some nice software you got there. It'd be a real shame if some of it weren't licensed..."
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Re:sigh (Score:5, Informative)
So, yeah, suing a customer.
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If you can't find your licenses, call your VAR. They'll have them on file somewhere; if they don't, time to pick a new VAR (and sue the old one for all the damages the BSA hit you with; it should be a certainty that you still have records of your original purchase from them).
Re:sigh (Score:5, Insightful)
A former company of mine ran into this issue, and the issue was that over the years they had purchased from multiple VARs, some of which no longer existed. How do you ask your VAR to check your licenses, when the VAR has vanished from the earth?
This isn't even rare. Any company that has been in business for a significant amount of time (say, since Windows for Workgroups) will have gone through several VARs, had churn amongst all personnel who might know about licensing, and couldn't tell you where all their licenses are if you put a gun to their heads. I guess in that case you just re-purchase some subset of your licenses every few years. This must be the "rental" model I've been hearing about.
Even in cases where licenses were purchased directly from the vendor, the contract was sometimes vague as to exactly how many licenses of what type could be in use simultaneously. In the best of times it's a headache.
It's "showing intent" that's missing from the equation.
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The BSA are not the police though so if they come to "audit" you telling them to fuck off and maybe try to make an appointment next time is the correct response.
Saying that MS can be asshats about licensing too. The last place I worked wanted to sell second hand refurbished PCs but MS insisted that the Windows license was only for the original owner and could not be transferred. I.e. every machine that was being sold for £30 upwards needed a new Windows license at £70 a pop. We just ignored them
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So you have ITExampleCorp that has 500 legit copies of XP running on 1500 machines, or something to that effect.
Suing ExampleCorp in that instance is, in fact, suing your customer. Of course, what the BSA prefers to do is to instead demand that ExampleCorp buy licences from them to cover the other thousand boxes, using the threat of a lawsuit to make them comply.
Which, of course, often comes back to bad management.
IT guy: "Hey, we're running 1500 computers on 500 legit copies of XP. We need to fix this, immediately."
Manager: "It's working, right?"
IT guy: "Yes, but, it's illegal. We're going to need to plop down a significant chunk of change to become compliant."
Manager: "There's no budget for that, and I'm not asking MY boss for extra funds for it. Just ignore it."
IT guy: "Er, ok, but I want it officially noted I object to this."
Manager: "Stupid un-managea
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Sometimes it's damn hard to be compliant.
- An employee is terminated, and the license for something he installed years ago on a server is non-transferable. The software keeps on running as it always has, until an audit discovers that the person is no longer with the company.
- A legacy system runs software that since then has been bought by another company. While you have a legal license with the original company, this can not be verified.
- You use both open sourced and closed source licenses of the same s
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Playing devils advocate. What if they buy the book scan and OCR the text then upload the text for everybody to share. Are they still a customer? Do you still sue?
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They're still a "customer" of Barnes & Noble, or Amazon, or wherever they bought the book. They're also still a pirate violating the author's copyright. And for the violation of the copyright, yes, the person whose rights are being violated should still sue.
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If only the BSA did that. They're more into socking small to medium sized businesses with huge bills when they can only prove that they bought 990 out of the 1000 licenses they need in theory (even if the vendor told them 950 was sufficient for their use).
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There are few "full black" sheep that have no licenses whatsoever. Usually the BSA crashes into a company on a more or less reliable source (disgruntled employee) who may even have a case where a company failed to keep up with the sometimes rather obscure licensing requirements and schemes of various companies. Quite frankly, if you want to get a company in trouble today, don't send the IRS anymore. Send the BSA. The chance that they somehow, somewhere, some way forgot or overlooked something is WAY higher,
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If the people hurt by the BSA were all scurrilous pirates, I'd agree and applaud. But what about the companies who made a good faith effort to keep in compliance with the twisty and not well documented little passages of company-wide server, desktop and portable licenses, and then got nailed anyway? What about a system that makes it easy to accuse and very difficult to prove innocence?
Re:Time to look for greener pastures (Score:4, Insightful)
Slashdot has always been that way. You (or we I guess) just got older. And blogs got more common too, so blogger opinion pieces went from being on a few sites to being absolutely everywhere.
It isn't that the site has changed, it's that your memories of slashdot a decade ago are rose-tinted.
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I'll have you know, that I have been visiting slashdot since 1997 back in the "Chips and Dips" version. That was back when CmdTaco would personally stop by each member's house to give us a custom ID badge with our number on it. Then he personally invited us all to a meeting on how to troll and we had Goatse give a speech about GNAA. He's good like that.
Wow, a two or maybe three digit id!
Won't work (Score:2)
IT workers are like all other kinds of workers - they think they're rugged individualists who can stand as an army of One against a totally unified management. And if they cannot, they think they can start their own businesses.
Of course the road of unemployment is littered with tons of squirrels who think this way. But hey, IT workers look at them as examples of natural selection. At least, until they themselves are outsourced and they find themselves spending 4 additional years in college burning through t