I've Used Their Products For Years

There's an interview with the CEO of Ernie Ball about how and why they dropped all their Microsoft products and switched to open source. It would be even better if they were a Domino on Linux shop, but this is reason enough for me to keep buying their Super Slinky guitar strings.

The other lesson from the article, though, is that if you're not using all open source, do take care and watch your software licenses. Most businesses don't intentionally violate software licenses, but if the BSA comes knocking on your door it probably won't really matter whether violations are intentional or not. As a software professional, I do like to see people pay for their software; but as a businessman I can not condone tactics that treat an honest but procedurally lax business the same way as they treat deliberate pirates.