[c-nsp] Feedback on upcoming removal of FTP access to secured software

[Peter Rathlev]

On Wed, 2010-09-15 at 22:32 +0200, Asbjorn Hojmark - Lists wrote:
> On Tue, 14 Sep 2010 21:13:35 +0100, you wrote:
> > It's also looks like Cisco may be vaguely moving in the direction of
> > locking CCO accounts down to be able to access only software downloads
> > for which there are active smartnet contracts.
> 
> Active service contracts, yes that's what they're doing. (They have
> informed us partners). It doesn't have to be SMARTnet contracts,
> though.

With the new "lifetime upgrades" thingy for the small Catalyst devices
there would be no need to restrict access to the basic feature images
("IP Base" for 3560 et cetera). I would even go so far as to say that
restricting access to that software (unless legally obliged) would mean
that they're lying about these "lifetime upgrades".

(They might very well no restrict access to just that kind of software,
I haven't bothered to check.)

I still don't understand why Cisco would do this. Is "pirated" Cisco
software really that big an economic problem for them? Aren't most if
not all of their big customers already in compliance anyway?

Personally I imagine that "thieving" of Cisco software mostly happens
when amatuers (no offense meant) get their hands on some piece of laid
off hardware.

-- 
Peter