[linux-help] Anyone else heard BSA commercials?

[Nate Bargmann <n0nb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Since I moved back to the north side of KS, I have the opportunity to
listen to radio stations out of Nebraska.  In particular, I listen to
KFAB 1100 AM and have heard some interesting commercials by the Business
Software Alliance.

It seems the BSA is advertising a "30 day grace period" that runs from
October 15 to mid-November for companies to audit their software
licenses.  The commercial I've heard the most goes something like this.

A male and female voice are talking, from the conversation the female is
a manager and the male is perhaps the IS manager.  As the commercial
proceeds the female begins talking about a recent announcement that
companies are to audit their software licenses as failure to have the
proper documentation could cost a company up to $150,000 per software
title.  The male tends to disregard this news and wants to focus on more
pressing things, in his view.  The female presses the issue and requests
a report within a short time frame for the male to submit an audit for
her review.  The female also emphasizes that improper licensing is a 
very serious issue and must be a top priority.  The commercial closes 
with the particulars for companies in the Omaha area to respond to the BSA 
or face the consequnces.

I'm curious if such a commercial has played in Wichita or other major
metropolitan areas.  Is the BSA (known strong arm of Microsoft,
incidentally) dealing with specific areas singly or is this a
nation-wide push?

I had a thought that it would be justice if a similar commercial could
be aired that takes the track of when the IS manager is not concerned
about the software licenses and the other manager presses the issue, the
IS manager responds with, "Oh, we're fine!  We only use Free Software
such as GNU and BSD and there are no restrictions on our use of such
software.  Royalties are not required, plus we have other benefits that
go beyond a lower Total Cost of Ownership."  Then I would have the
commercial close with contact information for an ISV that creates
solutions using Free Software.

If anyone finds this useful, consider the idea GPL!

- Nate >>

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