There are legitimate ways to slash your software licensing budget without resorting to software piracy, writes Andrew Katz, a lawyer specialising in computer law.

Some of these are ideas the mainstream software business doesn’t want you to know about, but all of them have helped clients save money without sacrificing functionality.

Acquiring secondhand software would help trim down software licensing budget. Under the EU 1991 Software Directive, companies are not allowed to restrict the sale of a legitimate copy of their software on the secondhand market. This legislation was designed to put them on a level playing field with the sellers of goods. Ford isn’t allowed to prevent the sale of secondhand Ford Mondeos, so why should Microsoft be allowed to restrict the sale of secondhand copies of Word? There are companies such as Disclic, which will administer the legal transfer of secondhand software licences.

Using open source software would also help. Sun’s Open Office is a free of charge, fully legal software, which is comparable to, and also compatible with Microsoft Office, and in many ways better. An example is direct saving to .pdf, which does away with that daft “ribbon” nonsense that was introduced in Office 2007, and requires major retraining of staff. Moreover, with open source software, you can freely copy discs as often as you want. You don’t have to monitor the number of licences in use, and there’s no mandatory registration or entering of activation keys. The savings in administration alone can be very significant.

Make sure users only have the software they actually need. For example, you may have office suites containing Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Publisher. If the end user only uses Word, then maybe you can get away with a Microsoft Works licence for a version including Word. This is a fraction of the cost of a full Office licence.

You may have more licences than you think. I got an additional licence for Microsoft Outlook with my mobile phone. Combine this with a licence for Works, which contains Word, and you’ve got the two most important pieces of the Office suite for about £30 ($45), instead of the £350 ($523)-odd you’d pay for a full retail licence for Office Standard. Software providers like Vector Networks have software, which can help keep tabs on licence utilisation.

Don’t use the latest versions of software. Office software has improved very little in any meaningful way in the last few years, and the later versions tend to be bigger, slower and buggier. There’s not much difference in practical day-to-day functionality between Office 97 and Office 2003. Most users find Office 2007 a real step backwards. Have you seen the latest Microsoft ads apologising for this? Adobe Acrobat Version 5, released in 2001, is my favourite version of Acrobat. The subsequent versions are bigger, less reliable, more expensive, have unnecessary additional functionality and insist on dialing back to Adobe to check for updates far too frequently.

Read the licence agreements! Some Microsoft licences allow the user to install an additional copy on their laptop, as well as on their desktop. There’s no point in buying two licences if you need only one.

For domestic purposes, if you must use Microsoft software, consider getting an academic or domestic licence. The entry requirements are pretty low. For example, if you have a child in full time education at any level, this qualifies you. The savings over the retail licence are enormous. X

Andrew Katz is a partner with Moorcrofts LLP, a UK law firm specialising in business law