BSA style tactics have created a backlash in India. Microsoft caught six stores installing unpaid for coppies of Windows and threatened them with fines. The vendors don't think they are doing anything wrong. 350 boycotted a training meeting and have pledged to stop buying all Microsoft products for the next quarter.

One retailer told CIOL that they are just doing a service to the customer by installing illegitimate copies of the OS. "Since we are are not charging anything extra for installing the software, it means that we are actually not trading in pirated software. For us this is just a sewa (selfless act) that we are offering to our customers. Besides, the pricing of their operating systems is way too high for the Indian markets."

Microsoft thinks they are teaching the vendors a lesson, but I think it's working the other way.