Pirate software create more woes for PC Science

Yet more dirty linen has been aired about PC Science, the Yorkshire vendor that went into receivership earlier this month. The company was using over a single copy of Microsoft Office on 100 systems, according to a report in the Yorkshire Post. Top staff knew that unlicensed software was being used at the company, despite being warned by an employee about the penalties they could face if discovered. The Yorkshire Post printed part of a memo written by a member of the IT staff warning PC Science directors in April. It read: "…you can see the number of PCs we are running unlicensed software on, namely: 149 desktop PCs and fileservers, around 97 per cent of which are running the same copy of Office." The author of the memo warned the directors that they would be liable for prosecution if the illegality was discovered. UK directors can get two years in prison and be fined for the offence. PC Science sparked an SFO enquiry this month and receivers KPMG have also moved in. These add to existing investigations by Trading Standards and the Office of Fair Trading. The DTI is also understood to be involved. Microsoft chose not to comment pending the outcome of the investigations. ®