Microsoft Police
There has been a lot of chatter in the newsgroups recently about Microsoft licensing and what to do if you think the legality of clients software is suspect.
Here is my opinion. Funny that, it being my blog 
Simple, get them to become legitimate (or legal) or walk away.
Let’s clarify this. Why I said legitimate or legal is because these can be two seperate things. Why? well frankly, just because Microsoft and it’s lawers say something should be the case, it doesn’t mean that it is the law.
It is Microsofts opinion, in their favour, of what it’s lawers interperit the law to be. For it to be seen as legal, it must be put through the proper judicial process. Yes, a court case. Some Microsoft license agreements have been through this process whilst others haven’t.
As a responsible business partner of your client (and business partner of Microsoft), you sell them the product and should do everything in your power to make sure they are buying and using it in a legitimate and/or legal fashion. Simple. You are not the Microsoft police like some have suggested and no-one really expects you to be so… but you also have to be a proper business partner to the client.
Would a solicitor or accountant turn a blind eye to a bit of ‘you didn’t see that did you’? Some might but I don’t want to do business with them and neither do I want to do business with clients who expect me to go against my own advice and potentially leave myself and the client open to legal action. That’s why I said walk away. The slight loss in revenue from this now grade c or d client is not worth the hassle.
Choose the right clients who want your advice for a reason, who see the value in their IT infrastructure and see you as a businees advisor and you can build on this.
Then again, Microsoft have to look at simplifying their licensing………Oh god don’t start that one