Screaming Penguin

Ernie Ball makes guitar strings. They make the strings I have used for years (but trust me thats no tribute to them, I probably shouldnt mention that at all based on my lame guitar ability).

Well as it turns out Ernie Ball used to be a big Microsoft shop and big Microsoft supporter. Until one day when the BSA (Business Software Alliance) had federal marshals show up at their door, do an audit, and shut them down. As it turns out they had a "few dozen" unlicensed copies of software that they claim were on passed down pcs where the drive had not been wiped clean and were not used. The company was shut down for a brief time, fined, and had its name blared all over the media for being a software pirate.

This was a result of the BSA's "turn in your boss" campaign. You might recall this gem. The BSA was basically encouraging disgruntled employees to turn in companies. Piss on your customers by offering their disgruntled employees a way to get back at you, thats what software companies need to do right? (Pretty much RIAA style alienate your customers, IMHO. Dont get me wrong, technically if you have illegal software you should remedy that situation and either get rid of it or license it, agreed, but are smear campaigns, raids and in general gestapo tactics the best way to treat your customer base?)

So after this little debacle the President of Ernie Ball said get the Microsoft crap the hell out of here if they are going to treat us in that manner.

And they did it. They run Linux, OpenOffice, Mozilla and so on. Not only can they now tell the BSA to piss off but they claim to be saving tons of money and they are inherently secure in todays world of Microsoft severe security holes every other day. Open Source has worked and worked well for Ernie Ball. Thanks of course to the BSA!

For more see the linked news.com story.   Rockin on without Microsoft: news.com