Audits Don’t Have to be Awful

Micromail are being contacted by more and more companies who are being faced with a software audit. We have in conjunction with one of the leading SAM vendors put together a white paper so that you are prepared for an audit as it’s a case of when rather than if…..

According to Gartner, there is a 65% chance of an organisation being audited by at least one software vendor. This figure is particularly worrying as audits not only tie-up resources but are also extremely costly (one company togged up a cost of $500,000). But audits happen for a good reason; it is reckoned that around $59 billion worth of software is used illegally (i.e. without a license) globally.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to minimise the impact that an audit would have on your company, as well as ensure that you are indeed in line with all legal requirements.

Interested? Click here for an executive white paper that explains everything you can do to prepare for (and prevent) an audit.

What is Licensing, Anyway?

People often seem to think that software is a commodity – something you buy from a retailer which you then own and use. But in actual fact, with software, you license, not purchase it. Why? Well, when you license the software, the primary value comes not from an object (such as the disk it is stored on) but instead from the knowledge of the people who wrote the software – the ‘cleverness’, if you like. You can’t own that knowledge, you merely acquire a limited right to use it. Put simply, software is intellectual property.

It’s tricky to define or identify the value of intellectual property and thus, such things are copyrighted (copyrights, trademarks, and patents). This allows whoever owns the material, in this case, software to define who can access and use their property, protecting it from unauthorized use. This is in an attempt to define the value of the software.

In this line, a software license provides the legal right to install, use, access, display, run, or otherwise interact with a software program. This doesn’t always include right to media, manuals, or support. Remember checking the ‘I agree’ box whenever you install something? That is you agreeing to the terms of use of the software.

Using OneNote with SharePoint Online

OneNote has carved out an important place in many people’s day to day note taking activities. With SharePoint Online you have the ability to store and optionally share your OneNotes with colleagues, with the added piece of mind that your data is safely backed up and accessible where ever you are.

SharePoint My Site is a handy place to store your personal notes, and here is 1 way to make it accessible to from OneNote.