A recent Computing article looked at the dangers of using externally sourced software when 'selling' a software 'product'. They pointed out that the terms of licenses for the 3rd party software may be problematic when selling-on bundles, or even when selling a company which made money that way.
Absolutely. Think what might happen if a company did not comply with a license from Microsoft, Adobe or Oracle ... swarms of lawyers may well blacken the skies, or perhaps just the BSA.
But the unfortunate thing about this article is that it does not promote general diligence when it comes to software licenses, instead it takes a pot-shot at 'open source' software:
Open source's dark side by David Boutcher & Bob Stankey
Their silly stance rather dilutes an important message, i.e. make sre you understand the licenses of the software you depend upon.
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Just FUD and scare tactics. Full of "can" "if" "might" and weasel words. The Cisco/Linksys example is particularly poor given that the WRG54 series of routers are still selling well and Cisco are looking at moving to a linux base themselves.
"legal compliance has become increasingly important"
The Copyright Act is more legally valid now than it was 10 years ago? Hmmm....
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