There is software X, which is not a really well-known software, but it is unique and I find it very useful for our task in our department.
I've downloaded a trial version of the software and I have shown it him. He seemed satisfied, but did nothing.
The per-workstation (or per-user) license of the software is slightly below $100 (although they have a per-company license as well, which is many thousands of $).
I wrote him a mail, around so:
Subj: FYI
There is this tool which is very useful for our tasks about ... and ...
Regards,
His answer was essentially this:
This is not a free [as in beer - M.S.] software, so delete it from your workstation!
I did it so, I deleted even the trial version even on the spot and answered this to him.
Now I think, maybe he doesn't know that next to the per-company license (which he probably won't invest for a simple department), there is also a per-workstation license which is far below the typical budget limits of a whole programming department (i.e. its price is around our daily wage).
I think I should write him a next mail, simply this:
Subject: FYI #2
Hallo,
Do you know, the per-workstation (or per-user) license of the ... is priced only around $80, and it can be buyed even from a VAT-capable reseller in our country (link #1, link #2)?
Regards,
...but, if I write this to him, maybe he will think I try to command or control him. I think it is a very high danger, because he is the boss and not me.
I think the software would be very useful, but from the other side, it absolutely not deserves the risk that maybe he think I want to enforce anything for him.
There is also another problem: the department lived without this software since years. If we now buy this software, it would be like admitting that we worked on a highly ineffective way years long. Maybe it can be also a problem, even from the side of the boss, or from the side of my collegues (most of them are working much longer here, as me, and they are also much older, and they are also native in this country while I am a foreigner).
What to do? Is it better to let this as it is, or maybe there is a super-polite version of this "FYI #2" mail, which very clearly avoids that it would be seem as a try to control?