Taylor Ripley - the CSO of CertGuard - a certification exam integrity and security company, asked the following questions of Cisco thru yours truly:
| Since Dynampis is written and distributed by an accredited university in France, (UTC - University of Technology of Compiegne), and since Dynampis has world-wide press, why hasn't Cisco Systems pursued legal action against individuals using Dynampis if it violates copyright and licensing of the Cisco IOS Agreement?
This is an international violation that Cisco would be ignoring. Do violating copyright and licensing agreements have an unspoken exception to Cisco when the materials are used in an educational environment? |
THE OFFICIAL RESPONSE FROM CISCO
As a matter of policy, Cisco will not comment on a specific customer or organization's use of Cisco software.
That said, it is accurate that according to Cisco’s standard software licensing terms, users may only run Cisco software on the Cisco hardware for which the user pays the appropriate fees.
We have also heard from customers that emulation/simulation tools are of value to them and we are exploring different ways on how to continue to help customers best design and test network configurations prior to deployment of their networks.
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Interesting, I hadn't heard it put this way...
"...for which the user pays the appropriate fees."
In other words, "Everyone has a Price", right? ;)
It is good to know that they're working on different ways of helping. Although I haven't used Dynamips, I understand from many different resources that it has helped them and may be a promising development in the industry.
They need to embrace the technology..
I spent $5500 on routers for ccie study this year.
I found Dynamips and now can take my studies on the road.. And it costs me nothing in hardware.
They need to use the software on the exams.
This software could change the whole way students study for cisco exams.. We just need a switch "3550" version.. They also have a PIX verison
As far as I am aware the
As far as I am aware the Dynamips software is not violating any copyright. Does Vmware, Xen or Qemu violate Microsoft's copyright?
No, they are simply emulators which run software, it is the responsibility of the person that is using the software to obtain and license the software correctly.
I would be more interested in finding out why Certguard believes that targeting a tool that promotes learning and practice rather then going after the companies which sell lists of exam questions?
Certguard needed something to do
I appreciate their desire to strengthen the reputation of my Cisco certification. But with Cisco starting to press harder against the gray & black market (EBAY), where am I to find gear to practice and study on... The study guides, CBTs, books and labs are already extremely expensive... This software has cut thousands off my certification cost... With the talk of an IT staff shortage and the tightening of IT budgets. Having trained individuals in the marketplace pushing your gear would be advantages. But knowing the industry someone will buy the software rights and make it too expensive for the regular student to afford and then certguard can go into the anti-piracy business..
Re: Certguard needed something to do
LOL, no, we have no intention of joining in on the anti-piracy movement (there are Lawyers for that), we're strictly going after braindumps, cheaters, and gunmen.
As far as EBAY is concerned, you shouldn't have anything to worry about unless the equipment you're interested in buying is counterfeit or the test prep materials are braindumps.
See: Beware of buying new Cisco from sellers on eBay
Not sure if any of it is as cheap or cheaper than EBAY, but I know there are plenty of websites that deal with Used Cisco Equipment, as there are 1.88M hits on the search term.
Good Luck and Best Regards,
Robert Williams
Re: As far as I am aware the
Matt, thanks for the comments.
According to Cisco, your statement is not entirely correct. "Cisco’s standard software licensing terms, users may only run Cisco software on the Cisco hardware for which the user pays the appropriate fees." The way I read that, unless you pay Cisco for the rights to install their IOS on non-Cisco hardware, the user is in violation of their agreements.
Let me say that this was a conversation which was brought to our attention. We (CertGuard) did not start the conversation, nor did we start 'targeting' anyone for any reason, we were simply looking for a response to a question that has gone unanswered up to this point.
Also, CertGuard has in no way diverted our attention from the companies which sell or distribute braindumps. We are still working on numerous methods of stopping the use and sale of copyrighted exam questions.
Best Regards
Robert Williams
Matt is right. The product
Matt is right. The product itself is not violating anything. It is the users who are not paying Cisco for the rights to "install" IOS on non-Cisco hardware that are (thats includes us all). Come to think of it is not even installed in the real sense of installation. For all we know, the IOS image might be sitting in the tftp directory of the user's system.
I appreciate their desire to
I appreciate their desire to strengthen the reputation of my Cisco certification. But with Cisco starting to press harder against the gray & black market (EBAY), where am I to find gear to practice and study on... The study guides, CBTs, books and labs are already extremely expensive... This software has cut thousands off my certification cost... With the talk of an IT staff shortage and the tightening of IT budgets. Having trained individuals in the marketplace pushing your gear would be advantages. But knowing the industry someone will buy the software rights and make it too expensive for the regular student to afford and then certguard can go into the anti-piracy business..
Doesn't Certguard have a
Doesn't Certguard have a post on their boards starting this off? What did Boson pay them to start looking into this because it is costing them sales of their simulation software ?
Seriously does Certguard hold any credibility at all? I like all the fancy titles. Certguard please...