Genuine Software - Make Sure It's Legal
Free Open Source software saves you money in many ways. Companies risk making their IT systems vulnerable by using closed source (proprietary) software, i.e. software that comes without source code for their IT staff to inspect and with complicated software licenses.
Install Free Open Source Software (FOSS)
Open Source Software is provided with a license that gives the end user the right to deploy it freely for private or commercial use. You also have the right to inspect and even modify the underlying source code. You can deploy it on all your systems and copy it freely throughout your organisation.
Genuine Software Advantage
A single GNU Linux distribution contains most applications you're likely to need and can be installed on many systems. It's the ultimate volume discount. In addition, online update systems provide productivity enhancing upgrades, bug fixes, security enhancements and special add-ons.
Organisations that manage their software effectively standardise employees on common platforms. All users have high-quality, fully functional software and can receive online support if they have questions.
You can get rid of obsolete, expensive legacy systems and manage assets more efficiently, resulting in fewer IT support calls, lower administration costs, and higher user satisfaction.
With Open Source Software you have the assurance that you are protecting your company
from the legal fees, financial penalties, and bad press that accompany piracy lawsuits.
Safety in Numbers
When programmers can read, redistribute worldwide, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. This can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.
This evolutionary process produces better software than the traditional closed model, in which only a very few programmers can see the source and everybody else must blindly use an opaque block of bits. Co-operation between various projects and software integration is easier since they all have the source code.
Free Software Stops Piracy
The best way to protect consumers is to educate them about the issue of software piracy,
then help them to spot counterfeit software and pick an open source alternative instead.
For those outside the software industry, it can be difficult to appreciate the scope and impact of one of the industry's biggest problems,
counterfeit software.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has estimated that 35 percent of all PC software used worldwide is counterfeit or otherwise illegal.
Software piracy is the illegal reproduction and distribution of software applications, whether for business or personal use.
The negative impacts of counterfeiting and other forms of software piracy extend from
the companies who wrote the software through the ecosystem of local resellers worldwide who depend on software sales,
through to individual consumers.
Counterfeit software can even expose consumers and businesses to spyware, viruses, faulty code and identity theft.
Unlike other things you purchase, the software applications you buy don't belong to you.
Instead, you become a licensed user, you purchase the right to use the software on a single computer.
You can't use copies on other machines, pass it on to colleagues, or modify the software to suit your needs.
With increasing piracy it is becoming harder to ensure that computer software is genuine and properly licensed.
As a result, the software may contain outdated code or licenses or may not function at all.
It could possibly contain bugs or hidden viruses affecting entire company IT networks, not just the one
computer that the software is installed on.
Unlicensed users do not receive quality documentation and are not entitled to receive technical support or product upgrades,
patches, or updates.
Organisational productivity also suffers when employees use pirated products.
Pirated software often leads to version control problems that prevent employees from efficiently sharing files,
while driving up IT support costs.
You better delete it now and move on to Open Source Software.
Pirated Software Hazards and Costs