There’s a widespread belief that Microsoft (and other software giants, i.e., Adobe) turns a blind eye to a certain amount of unlicensed use of its software, on the grounds that the company’s long-term future is tied to ubiquity, not collecting every possible license dollar coming to it. I guess Microsoft’s not buying into that — their lawyers are nastygramming some of their biggest corporate customers, demanding a contractually guaranteed audit of installed software.
The letter, using language no less intimidating than the Internal Revenue Service might use, also includes a form that spells out the audit process. Customers must report the number of installs, documented licenses, license upgrades and unlicensed software. Covered in the process are operating systems, Office suites, individual applications, BackOffice products and the Visio product line.