Re: Software license (was: Classic ripoffs in computing)

[mattf@teleport.com (Matthew J. Farrenkopf)]

Marvin (guenter@student.uni-kl.de) wrote:
: Yes, I agree that people should not try to justify their bad deeds. Piracy
: IS bad. It hurts the authors and vendors of programs and can kill whole
: computer systems. I think everyone who chooses to grab a pirated copy
: should know that he is doing something bad. If he has no conscience, then
: he may perhaps understand the argument that software manufactures may
: abandon his own computer if they don't sell enough copies...

Let me mention Borland in this conversation.  I recently purchased a
software package from them.  They explained their software license in
English (wow!).  They say (I'm paraphrasing) "This software may be used
'like a book.'  That is, any number of copies may be made on as many systems
as you want, so long as you can guarantee that no two people are using the
software at the same time.  Just like the idea that only one person may read
a book at a time."

Now ... where I work has a tendency to be slow ... VERY slow.  I like to do
programming during the slow times.  I don't have a laptop.  I asked the
administrator here to install the package on the system I use (only he has
access to the floppy drive).  He said he'd do it.

I'm the only one who does any programming at home or at work.  In addition,
DOS mode is protected so that only the system administrator and I have
access to it.  He doesn't do any programming (well, at least in this
language) either.

Given the above, and what I understand from Borland's explanation:  is it
illegal to have a copy on my system and a copy on my work system?  And for
those people that either work for Borland or are also familiar with
Borland's license, does this agree with what you know?

--
Matthew J. Farrenkopf, EMT-B | Contrary to what some people want to believe,
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