Will More DRM Mean Fewer Audits?

With the prospect of new DRM and nastier audit procedures, 2007 is shaping up to be the year of software license enforcement by the major software publishers. And since we're inevitably going to be hearing a lot more gripes in those areas in the coming months, now is perhaps a good time to air the opinion of one IT manager who thinks there may be a silver lining for customers in these tougher anti-piracy measure

Of all software publishers, Adobe has been perhaps the most aggressive auditor of corporate customers in recent years, which the reader acknowledged when I wrote him. "I will admit, they have. Adobe also has the second most pirated library of software on the planet, after Microsoft. Think about it, how many institutions really pirate IBM VM/VSE? It may have something to do with the 1500-pound dongle needed to run it. But, in all seriousness, it is a cold war mentality between the rights of consumers --which continue to be eroded on with things like DMCA, copyright extensions, UCITA, DRM and the like -- and that of big business (and big bucks), to get as much money, er marketshare, as possible all in the name of 'shareholder value.' It has nothing to do with shareholder value, but everything to do with monopolistic control. They have it, they don't want to lose it and will put up a fight to keep it. Even it means stepping on those that actually put them where they are. Think of the recent Congressional elections. Or even more recent announcement by the MPAA to 'license' (think 'tax') home theaters (loosely defined as having a 36" or larger screen and a stereo). Both are prime examples. Why should software companies be any different?"

"In the end, Adobe has to pay their employees," the reader continued. "They do that by selling software. Companies sell software by having a) better product (Adobe model), b) squashing the competition (Microsoft), c) being trendy (Apple). All of that effort takes time and money of which Title 17 and Title 35 provide protections and legal recourse. How they go about doing that is a matter for the PR folks and how they view the long-term viability of their company."

So will ALM mean that Adobe no longer has to audit its corporate customers? "I don't think ALM, in and of itself, will negate the need to audit, but it will lessen the need to do so," the reader answered that question. "The problem with activation like the type Adobe first introduced in Photoshop is that many organizations do not want their employee's desktops 'speaking' to the outside world except in a tightly controlled manner. But that's where ALM comes in, as it moves Adobe's activation server from their premises to yours, with a trusted chain that they wrote for the activation process. Rather than phoning Adobe, the clients are phoning your internal server."