[Linux-bruxelles] Pas toujours drôle d'être un gros client de M$

[Renaud Dans]

http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20010329S0009

Microsoft To Users: Pay Up
  (03/29/01, 6:12 p.m. ET) By Mitch Wagner, InternetWeek  

  Microsoft Corp. is cracking down on enterprise customers it believes
aren't paying for all the software they're using, calling on them to
perform audits and stick to a narrow interpretation of license terms,
according to several big Microsoft shops.

 "These days, the only thing that Microsoft is interested in
discussing with its customers is licensing issues," said John Luludis,
CIO of Danzas AEI, an international shipping company with about 10,000
Windows desktops. "We spend a lot of time and resources constantly
proving license compliance, while we try to plan an optimum
configuration to deal with the rising cost of ownership related to
Microsoft's products."

Customers and analysts say Microsoft's licensing terms are overly
complex and becoming outdated as more enterprise users access Windows
applications on a part-time basis over the Web.

A licensing disagreement with Microsoft (stock: MSFT) forced Alaska
Airlines to scrap a plan to give pilots browser access to a mainframe
work-scheduling application, said CIO Robert Reeder.

The initial plan was to run terminal emulation software on Windows NT,
letting pilots access the app from their home PCs and airport kiosks.

When Microsoft heard about the application, it demanded that the
airline pay for a full-time license for every computer that would
access the app, Reeder said.

"I told them that was ridiculous," he said. "I can't license every
computer in the world."

When Alaska Airlines balked, Microsoft instead said it wanted a
license for every employee who could access the application, even if
they access Windows for only a few minutes a day. That total bill
would have been about $250,000 more than the company was paying,
Reeder said.

"That tips the project over from an economic standpoint, and we can't
do it," Reeder said. Instead, Alaska Airlines wrote its own code to
create a direct Web interface to the application.

He added that it's "disappointing" that Microsoft's licensing terms
effectively preclude thin-client applications such as the airline's
that could support nontraditional, part-time uses of Windows server
apps.

Analysts said Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., is cracking down on licensees
amid lackluster financials.

After years of racking up spectacular earnings growth, Microsoft
posted flat earnings in its most recent quarter compared with a year
ago and has warned that earnings for the current quarter will be lower
than expected.

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Dans Renaud. (renodan at bigfoot.com)
icq:76889908

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