something about software licensing
- August 1, 2005 @ 8:10amuser222 says:Do you think buying a personal license of a software and installing it on multiple computers that you own should be legalized, since a lot of people have more than one computer? Would this ever change?
- August 1, 2005 @ 11:59amCOvalle says:Some licenses do allow this type of personal installation. Many commercial products do not. I deal with software licenses in the course of my work on a regular basis.
I don't see the more restrictive licenses changing anytime soon. The companies that can currently use these types of licenses have little incentive to change at this time.
I much prefer the less restrictive licensing, personally, and attempt to use and purchase products with less restrictive licenses whenever possible.
When you say "legalized," are you advocating that the practice be declared legal by law, no matter what the product license states? I don't believe that will occur. - August 3, 2005 @ 7:40amCarrie says:I agree with cjovalle.
If anything, we continue to see efforts by the software industry to "beef up" their licenses - through international copyright actions and state laws.
Having said that, I don't think it is necessarily out of line for software companies to want to limit software to one computer as long as the original owner is not thwarted in backing a back up copy, that sort of thing. And pricing is not outlandish.
What is more problematic to me is efforts to restrict use that is reasonable and lawful under copyright - such as efforts to try to convince people who buy a shrinkwrapped book that once they open up the wrap, they forfeit their first sale rights.
-carrie
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