Ernie Ball: Microsoft Free

Sterling Ball doesn't like Microsoft.  It wasn't always that way. Five years ago, following a tip from a disgruntled ex-employee, the Business Software Alliance, armed U.S. Marshals in tow, arrived at the doors of California based Ernie Ball, the world's leading manufacturer of premium guitar strings, and shut down the company's IT systems.  They couldn't just quietly perform their audits and extract their penalties.  Instead, the BSA (the US counterpart of CAAST) put the company on the evening news and featured it in ads warning other businesses of the perils of not complying with software license agreements.

Faced with about 8% non-compliance (the equivalent of 5 computers in his 72 desktop shop), Ball ponied up more than $90,000 in fines and legal fees and then instructed his IT staff to have Microsoft products out of his business within six months.  "I said 'I don't care if we have to buy 10,000 abacuses.'"

And how did they get out of compliance?  Ball explains: "We pass our old computers down. The guys in engineering need a new PC, so they get one and we pass theirs on to somebody doing clerical work. Well, if you don't wipe the hard drive on that PC, that's a violation. Even if they can tell a piece of software isn't being used, it's still a violation if it's on that hard drive."

He's right.  Even if you're using software that requires a dongle - the software won't run without it - and you have that software on multiple machines for convenience, that's a violation.

And even though he felt he had a legitimate explanation for his licensing problems, Sterling Ball felt constrained to settle: "There was never an instance of me wanting to give in. I would have loved to have fought it. But when [the copyright owners] went to Congress to get their powers, part of what they got is that I automatically have to pay their legal fees from day one. That's why nobody's ever challenged them--they can't afford it. My attorney said it was going to cost our side a quarter million dollars to fight them, and since you're paying their side, too, figure at least half a million. It's not worth it. You pay the fine and get on with your business."

So, Ernie Ball got on with business and got on without Microsoft.  Five years later, his business running smoothly on open source software, Ball looks back and smiles at the money he's saved.  "I know I saved $80,000 right away by going to open source, and each time something like (Windows) XP comes along, I save even more money because I don't have to buy new equipment to run the software."