[Infowarrior] - MS Strongarm Sales Tactics

[Richard Forno]

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&arti
cleId=111186

May 08, 2006  (Computerworld) -- It's bad enough when Microsoft strong-arms
other software vendors into submission as a means of thwarting competition.
But when it engages in underhanded tactics to intimidate users in order to
land a software deal, we have a very disturbing situation on our hands. And
someone needs to have the guts to speak out about it.

Fortunately, someone has. Last week, Dale Frantz, CIO at Auto Warehousing
Co., brought to my attention an alarming business practice that shows
Microsoft at its shoddy and arrogant worst.

AWC was contacted several weeks ago by Janet Lawless, a software asset
management engagement manager at Microsoft, who claimed that "a preliminary
review of [AWC's software licensing] information indicates that your company
may not be licensed properly." Lawless urged AWC to "understand that the
potential inconsistency in licensing is an urgent matter and needs immediate
attention." She wanted to send a consultant to AWC to conduct an inventory
of its installed software.

Frantz was stunned. He says he always errs on the side of caution with
respect to software licenses. He does regular audits and maintains extensive
records of purchases, license keys and registration codes. Frantz had no
doubt that he was 100% compliant. When he told Lawless that, she ratcheted
up the threatening tone of her e-mail correspondence.

"Simply commenting on your licensing environment does not address our
concerns in a tangible, proven manner," she wrote. "We continue to believe
that Auto Warehousing may not be licensed properly. Since this is a
compliance issue, I am obligated to notify an officer of Auto Warehousing of
the situation and the significant risk your organization may be subject to
by not resolving this situation in a timely manner."

At that point, Frantz got his corporate attorney involved. The attorney
suggested that an olive branch be proffered to avoid legal action, so Frantz
offered to send Lawless detailed records of all purchases of Microsoft
software in the past five years. But Lawless blew that off as well. She
seemed determined to get a consultant into the IT bowels of AWC.

"Thank you for your offer to send your purchase records to me," she wrote,
"however our Software Asset Management (SAM) program is the only unbiased
way to create an accurate baseline and resolve this matter."

That did it. Frantz informed Lawless that he wasn't going to waste anymore
time with her, and he left the matter with his attorney. The attorney,
suspecting that Lawless' actions were part of an elaborate sales effort,
basically told her to back off.

Indeed, according to Microsoft's Web site, the responsibility of someone
with Lawless' title of "engagement manager" is to "perform as an integrated
member of the account team, drive business development and closing of new
services engagements in targeted accounts." So why was someone in a sales
position leaning so hard on AWC about a supposed licensing compliance
concern?

When I phoned Lawless to find out, she referred me to Microsoft's PR
machine. The responses I got through that channel stressed that Microsoft's
aim is to help customers navigate the complexities of software licensing and
that one of the roles of engagement managers is to assist in that effort by
informing customers of a potential licensing risk. I was told to attribute
the responses to Lawless.

The fact is, if Microsoft really has reason to believe that a company is
using unlicensed copies of its software, it sics the Business Software
Alliance on the company. It doesn't turn the matter over to one of its sales
managers.

The folks at Microsoft should have done their homework. They would have
realized that trying to intimidate Dale Frantz would be a fruitless effort.
And what a rotten fruitless effort it was.

Don Tennant

Don Tennant is editor in chief of Computerworld. Contact him at
don_tennant at computerworld.com.