Re: Software 'licensing' <RANT>

[gdr@eddore.myrias.com (Devin Reade)]

In article <5er7ke$noi@login.freenet.columbus.oh.us>,
Dave Althoff <dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us> wrote:
>
>Just something that occurred to me last night.  It seems to me that if a
>single user purchases software for his exclusive use, he ought to be able
>to use that same software on as many computers as he wants, provided that
>he only uses one copy at a time.

Although you have to check the terms of your licensing for each piece
of software, many modern software packages follow this scheme -- you 
can have as many copies of the software as you want, but you can 
concurrently use only the number of instantiations for which you have
paid.  Software for single-user machines such as the common x86 word
processors tend to rely on user goodwill (and the threat of lawsuits/
jail) in this licensing scheme.  Workstation applications tend to 
use license servers, which can imply one/many users, one/many workstations,
and one/many concurrent instantiations of the program, depending on
what kind of license you've paid for.

For the Apple II, you still have to check your respective licensing
documents, however if you are the sole user of the package at work
and at home, and you aren't allowing others to copy your software, I
think that you are still following the spirit (and possibly the letter)
of the license in most cases.

In short, I think that "multiple copies, single user" is usually ok,
but you should still check your licensing agreement.

Devin
-- 
	Give me ambiguity or give me something else.