Welcome to 2020

Welcome to 2020, where the only remaining constancy is software publishers trying to extract every last dollar out of their customers. If you’re a large organization, at best this has required a change in T&Cs and at worst, organizational chaos has ensued as you realign your vendors (throw them out!) to support your mission.

The stories are endless.

More specifically, at Sassafras we’ve been hearing about publishers who won’t allow customers to provide remote access to University computers labs for the safety of the student body. Never mind the fact that there would still be one individual logging into one computer. The publishers are insisting that in order to remain compliant with licensing terms, schools should restrict labs to “in person, meaty hands-on access” as one Sassafras customer noted, or risk being out of compliance. Sounds about right from a software publisher?

Schools are getting creative to solve this problem. Some are quickly re-imaging computers to remove the offensive publisher, while others are changing their delivery methods entirely. If you’re a Sassafras customer, we’ve come up with a pain-free option. You click a button. That’s right, just one button, and “poof,” if your publisher won’t let you launch that product remotely, Sassafras will keep that software product available for local use only. Students will still be able to remotely access that lab machine and its other software products, just not the “offensive” one. If the publisher comes to their senses and develops a soul, terrific, you uncheck the box and then your student body can remotely access that software product.

That feature is one of many that we’ve developed this year to support our customers as they pivot through chaos, to support their objectives in a sea of change. If you have a computer lab, and a difficult publisher, call us. We’ll support your organization with a solution that keeps your team focused on the mission, rather than distracted by a publisher’s need to feed their bottom line.