The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Pirate software create more woes for PC Science

Unlicenced Office was being used by 97 per cent of assemblers staff

  • print
  • alert

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery

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. ®

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery

More from The Register

Thanks, NSA: Amazon sales of Orwell's 1984 rise 9,500%
Citizens of Oceania bone up on the new reality
 breaking news
BBC lied to Parliament about doomed £100m IT monster, thunder MPs
Axed DMI ballooned and burst while watchdogs sang Kumbaya
Microsoft to open Windows Stores inside 600 Best Buy locations
Product showcases 'must be seen to be believed'
 breaking news
Author Iain (M) Banks falls to cancer at 59
Misses the release of his final work
 breaking news
What did the Lehman Brothers implosion look like to a techie?
Insider tells all about the Gnab Gib at Lehmans
It's official: 'tweet' an English word – not just in the avian sense
If the Oxford English Dictionary says it is so, then it is so
 breaking news
The only Waze is Google: Ad giant tipped to gobble map app 'for $1.3bn'
Pac-Man-satnav-ish upstart in bidding war with Apple, Facebook
 breaking news
1-in-10 e-tomes 'are self-published'... most are 'rubbish' says book ed
Publishing man scoffs at go-it-alone writers, ursines still fouling in forests
 breaking news