By Karl Young, special to Overdrive

Did you know Microsoft, IBM, Apple and Adobe are closely monitoring the usage of their programs, and collaborating to do so? The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is the self-proclaimed voice of the world’s commercial software, and as the economy struggles and piracy rates climb, they are doing everything they can to claw back valuable revenue. This is most commonly done by conducting software audits at large organisations to ensure that they are not mismanaging their software or infringing the license purchased.