Software giant Microsoft Corp. is working to ease the hard feelings sparked by an aggressive anti-piracy campaign aimed at schools. The campaign, which Microsoft now acknowledges was ill-timed, has prompted at least a few school officials in Oregon and Washington to consider switching to free, open-source software programs.

The 24 largest districts in those states received letters in April asking them to complete an audit of all Microsoft software on their computers within 60 days. The letters also contained brochures that explained Microsoft licensing options available to schools.

The letters were part of a broader campaign by Microsoft to find out whether schools nationwide are "under-licensed" and inform educators of what they must do to make their software legal, Microsoft spokeswoman Catherine Brooker said. Microsoft has sent letters and brochures to 500 randomly selected school districts in 32 states in all, she said.

Calling the audits "insensitive," however, many Oregon and Washington school officials said they were offended because they received the request toward the end of the school year, already the busiest time of the year for them. Fulfilling the audits also would require extra manpower and expenses their schools hadn't planned for, they said.

In response to the criticism, Microsoft has backed off its original request. The company said it would give school officials in those states more time to complete the audits.

"The letters that went to Oregon and Washington were the last letters to go out, and the timing was just bad," Brooker said. She acknowledged that company officials weren't "as sensitive as they should have been, and the second they realized it they moved to address [the problem]."

The inventory process is both time and labor intensive, school officials said. It requires someone to list all the software on each PC and Mac in every building, check to see if the licenses are current, and then possibly purchase new licenses.

"You're basically asking someone to touch every machine," said Scott Robinson, chief technology officer for the Portland, Ore., Public Schools. "We have 500 to 600 machines in 100 buildings. And, oh, by the way, I have a staff of 10 that would be doing this."

John Rowlands, director of information services for the Seattle Public Schools, wasn't entirely pleased with the request, either. "It's a pain and a chore to do, but we'll do it, and we'll have it done in about a month," he said.

Rowlands agreed that his district should have a valid license for each copy of software used, but he questioned the way Microsoft handled the request. "In the Pacific Northwest, the 'randomness' seems to be pretty specific," Rowlands said. "Everyone we know has been audited. We all talk."

He added, "I think Microsoft underestimated the work load required to do this." Unlike private-sector businesses, he said, school districts are spread out across several buildings and lack additional staff members to inventory software.