Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Receive the latest technology news and information.
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
Cloud Computing
View all newsletters




Privacy Policy
 

Microsoft Indemnifies Most of Its Users

Targets open-source rivals in legal move that some say will have little impact

November 15, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - Microsoft Corp. last week expanded its indemnification program to cover most of its customers, in a bid to further set itself apart from open-source rivals. The move, some experts said, is a great marketing tool but will have little impact on users.
Vendor indemnification programs have emerged as part of IT risk-mitigation strategies and have become particularly important for Linux sites because The SCO Group Inc. has threatened copyright infringement lawsuits.
"When we evaluate companies and software products, indemnification is one of the first things we look at," said Ken Meszaros, assistant vice president and infrastructure manager at LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., a Richmond, Va.-based real estate transaction services provider. "It is important that the vendor is willing to stand up for the integrity of its products."
For several years, Microsoft has indemnified its volume license customers from possible legal threats.
Last year, the vendor lifted the monetary cap on that protection. Microsoft is now extending protection to virtually all users of its products.
David Kaefer, director of business development at Microsoft, said that after a review, the company "came to the conclusion that there really is no reason why we would not offer it to anybody."
While having a form of free insurance is always nice, the Microsoft move appears to be mostly marketing, said David Elkins, a partner in the intellectual property practice at Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP in Palo Alto, Calif. The largest corporations that most need protection are already covered, he said.
"Microsoft is using its financial power to enhance its marketing advantage in this particular area," Elkins said. Smaller Linux vendors can't match Microsoft's blanket indemnification because they don't have the financial means, he noted.
"Indemnification is one element in overall platform value, just like total cost of ownership, security or reliability," Kaefer said. "Linux vendors offer much narrower indemnification."
Al Gillen, an analyst at IDC, said that the program won't mean much to users. "The chances are that if a customer was sued over intellectual property violations by Microsoft software, there is a pretty good chance that Microsoft would have to step into the fray anyway," he said.
Evers is a reporter for the IDG News Service.



Jump to comments

Legislation/Regulation

Additional Resources

Xerox
By using solid ink technology only from Xerox, you could save up to 65% by printing color for the cost of black and white. Enter for a chance to WIN a PhaserTM 8860 network color printer!
Microsoft
Save time and mitigate security risk. Deploy it now.
Sybase
In this white paper, IDC analyzes the role of next-generation mobile enterprise platforms as organizations seek a more strategic deployment of mobile solutions.

Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.

White Papers & Webcasts

Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
Learn how to successfully deploy a WAN optimization solution that is specifically tuned for a mobile environment!  

Faster, Cheaper and Easier to Maintain
Can you afford not to upgrade your servers to today's advanced, energy-efficient technologies?  

Effectively Implementing Datacenter Automation
Effectively select and deploy the best datacenter automation solution today!

Aligning IT to Business: The Rising Importance of Application Delivery Networks
Application Delivery Networking (ADN) will play a vital role in helping enterprises incorporate strategic technologies to achieve business initiatives.

Mitigate Risk, Lower Costs and Improve Network Efficiency
Create a stable IP network that not only meets today's challenges, but is flexible enough to also meet future demands.