How to handle people that don't understand office costs money?

[Xander]

and then get calls to support when they are not able to edit/ do formulas like they could in office.

It's their call. Either spend money on Office, or spend money on support.

 

[Cybjun]

That may well be true: that as a member of their Partner programme you have signed up to maintain certain standards re: working on non-licenced software.

But it doesn't mean that non-partners are legally required to abide by similar standards.

No thats were your personal ethics come into play. personally I purchase all my software and if I can afford to do it on my budget then anyone can do it.

 

[TopLevelComp]

No thats were your personal ethics come into play. personally I purchase all my software and if I can afford to do it on my budget then anyone can do it.

That's a generalization and not true, what's your budget like? Is it the smallest in the country?

 

[Cybjun]

That's a generalization and not true, what's your budget like? Is it the smallest in the country?

It is true its not a generalization, and at the time I built my PC and purchased my software I was working at 12/hr at exactly 39.5hrs a week and living in LA County. Just because its hard to do doesnt mean you dont have to do it.

 

[MobileTechie]

No thats were your personal ethics come into play. personally I purchase all my software and if I can afford to do it on my budget then anyone can do it.

We're not discussing buying software yourself. That isn't just about personal ethics, that is a legal requirement.

We're discussing, amongst other things, whether it's legal/ethical to support on software that has not been paid for.

 

[parker.casey]

I'm struggling to be believe that MS would try to sue a technician for working on what turns out to be non-licensed software. Surely only the people who installed it or use it have a legal relationship with MS, not someone who works on it?

Are there any actual cases to evidence this?

I would refuse to install or reinstall unlicensed software. I wouldn't offer to circumvent any protection measures on it. But it seems to be that is where my obligations stop. I'm not responsible for other people's software purchases. Are you saying that it's somehow illegal to say remove a virus from a copy of pirated Windows?

I won't try to interpret the law, being not a judge ... but yes, Microsoft will come down on you pretty hard for supporting pirated software, rather than reporting it. Oh yes.

 

[seedubya]

Have a look at a volume licence for them - it might save them a little money.

 

[Xander]

Got a call from a girl at the local university:

"I've got Office 2003 and my laptop came with a trial of 2007 (expired). I'd like to use some of the features of 2007 and was wondering if there was some way to unlock them (without paying)".

Punk kid. Get off my lawn.

 

[GoHighVoltage]

I love how people as you openly to commit a crime like it is no big deal.

 

[angrypug]

I had a lady decide not to buy a laptop from us last week because it did not have "Microsoft" installed on it (she was referring to MS Office). She purchased a similar laptop from a local competitor for same price as us because they agreed to install Office Pro 2010 for no charge.

Sorry, but they can't add Office Pro 2010 to a $275 laptop legally and still make a profit.

 

[benrybin]

It is my experience Microsoft and there lawyers do not go after small business with pirated software installed, but they will in an instant go after the person who installed the illegal software especially if they are a " computer repair business". I forget the website, but I am sure you can google it there is a list of computer repair business that microsoft has sued and won each year. The number is usually around 300. When dealing with pirated software I also document everything just in case. If the company wants to continue using pirated software that is up to them, but I would politely inform them that you can not support the pirated software and give them the options other techs have offered.

 

[joydivision]

If I lost a job due to a competitor installing pirated software I would have no hesitation in reporting them at all.

 

[erb]

I believe it is your duty as a tech to make your customers aware of how serious a problem piracy is and urge them to always stay with official and legit programs. I offer to acquire legit licenses for them so that we may ensure everyone of their computers and everyone of their software programs are in compliance.

I would never bring up their former tech or anything like that, just let them know they have a problem and you can fix it. I'd personally never rat anyone out for anything.

I've lost a few customers along the way for refusing to reinstall their pirated software, but in the end I believe MOST people really want to do the right thing.

 

[ATTech]

I had a lady decide not to buy a laptop from us last week because it did not have "Microsoft" installed on it (she was referring to MS Office). She purchased a similar laptop from a local competitor for same price as us because they agreed to install Office Pro 2010 for no charge.

Sorry, but they can't add Office Pro 2010 to a $275 laptop legally and still make a profit.

I wouldn't trust that information if it was the client who told you that; lying about what a competitor will do for them is fairly common amongst customers.

 

[joydivision]

A punk friend of mine has a job in an office and fancies him self as their techie. He phoned me up asking for a cracked copy of Office so he can install on their computers. I was not impressed.

As for Microsoft not suing people did you not see the link I posted a few weeks back? Two computer shops in Bradford, England got sued by Microsoft for putting on illegal copies of Office and recycling OEM keys.

Using dodgy stuff on your own computer is one thing, but installing illegal software on customers computers makes that person a criminal as far as I am concerned.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

It is true its not a generalization, and at the time I built my PC and purchased my software I was working at 12/hr at exactly 39.5hrs a week and living in LA County. Just because its hard to do doesnt mean you dont have to do it.

There seems to be a lot of judgement going around. Please never turn each other in, unless its a direct competitor making your life misserable. We just don't need to turn this industry into dog eat dog. what a hateful place to liveand work?

I make my money supporting my clients. I am not mircosofts cop. I advise clients of their situation but also tell them I will never tell anyone else about their business but warn of the possibilities as I see them.

However i will not install software without a legal license, COA. Period. I woudl return a legally loaded workstation knowing they might install the server saved Office ISO on an older version of 2003 or earlier office. Not my problem. I would not touch it with a ten foot poll.

The way we have been handing this for the last 7 years, when people ask for free software, is to tell all our customers that they can buy a retail OS or application as required at bestbuy or walmart for us to install or have me order it and install it. However, I will not buy anything unless I make a profit on it so if I can't mark it up, then I will send them elsewhere to buy it. Usually I sell them a new computer instead.

In the case of the office with 9 illegal computers.....nearly all of my business clients use "Open Org 3.2" and webmail as I have long ago pushed away from outlook or outlook express or any MS mail. Some use Thunderbird. For security reasons we stay away from MS email clients. Similarly we load modzilla and Chrome on every workstation so when IE gets cooped we have choices and utility.

There is not enough markup in software so I don't inventory or sell software other than OEM OS for systems I am about to build. If my bread wasn't buttered by MS failing OS's I would install Linux, free Office and email/calendar clients on every workstation and teach the users to be happy with it or put them on the cloud with linux.

My clients who do not use Open Org Office use Google free cloud applications for up to ten users. Did I say FREE? It is great and finally a small company can use the cloud free or updated world class service with protected data files for free with a rediculous amount of data storage free its like 5 gig per user. It is great to be a small business today.

I take some free recycled single core pc's and load linux, chrome and set them up to do free google cloud and donate them to my favorite chatholic charities or kids homes. It works great, better than new dells with windows.

So to the op, move your client to the free cloud and save him the cost and heartache and he will have free online secure data as a bonus. he can still use thunderbird for group ware within limits or pay $5 per user to use the full version of Google apps.

I would sell any Microsoft stock that I owned.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

I believe it is your duty as a tech to make your customers aware of how serious a problem piracy is and urge them to always stay with official and legit programs. I offer to acquire legit licenses for them so that we may ensure everyone of their computers and everyone of their software programs are in compliance.

I would never bring up their former tech or anything like that, just let them know they have a problem and you can fix it. I'd personally never rat anyone out for anything.

I've lost a few customers along the way for refusing to reinstall their pirated software, but in the end I believe MOST people really want to do the right thing.

I'd never reload illegal software either. I would offer open org as a face saving manuver to keep the client. However its not really my duty to persaud anyone to spend money with someone else. It is my duty to consult that client as to what is in his own best interest which is to get legal which often means abandoning MS office for freeware.

but I also tell them I am not a cop, just an advisor. whatever they decide is ok with me so long as they know I cannot install illegal software.

I had a lady bring in a new dell for restore the other day. She had no COA. I asked her about it and she pealed it off because it bothered her having it there. She didn't realize its significants. So you really don't know about people.

I was able to tune up her computer rather than reload it but warned her that she would need an OS before we could reload her os, unless it's restore partition worked.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

I personally know of two computer shops closed for piracy. One was a recycler who used the Dell OEM software to load XP Pro with Office and sell those systems for $129 ea when the lice cost more than that. He lasted about a year. Ignored the first warning letters they sent him.

Second guy was in California had a repair shop and pretty much did the same thing.

Both were proscuted and required to get out of the computer business for the full term of their parole. Meaning of they get caught going back into computer work they bust parole and go to jail. They both lost their business and were not allowed to sell it. Both were bankrupt. Both were pretty sad. Both were guilty and braisen.