Re: Release License API Ethics

Oh, oh, oh!  Now it makes MUCH more sense 8-)

Okay, let me see if I got this right.  You have some program with some
number of licenses, say 5.  You give 5 employees a license to use the
software.  Employee #6 comes along and needs to use it, so you take
the license away from one on of the other employees who using' using
it right then, say employee #2.  Later on, employee #2 needs to use it,
so you take it away from #3, and so on.  So, you always have a max
of 5 using it at any given time, but they are not always the same 5.

And is this wrong?

Hmm... I would say it all depends on  your license agreement.  If your
license agreement says you have a 5 user license, and the program itself
lets you change the users at will, I would say it would be legal.  A lot of
pain to maintain, but legal.

Now, if the license agreement says you have a 5 user license, and only
those 5 users can ever use it, it would be wrong.  If the program allows
you to change who the license is for, though, I would say it would be
okay.

Understand, I am not a lawyer, nor am I an expert on the law.

I think you need to get out your license agreement, read it very carefully.

Another question is, is this moral?  If you bought a 5 user license of a program
and 7 people are using it, that's not very moral.  It may be legal, just not
"right".

Everything stated is just my opinion on how I read the matter.  Please do
not hold me to this.  I don't want to get a summons and get put on the witness
stand and have some lawyer point his finger at me and say, 'Did you tell
Bob Randall this was legal?"

Regards,

Jim Langston

Bob Randall wrote:

> I can tell by your answer I neglected one very important factor. I am the
> customer, not the vendor. I am maintaining software not licensed
> "concurrent" but I have the ability to delete user licenses. By deleting
> licenses I will be causing it to appear as concurrent.
>
> So, what I mean by wrong is, is it close enough to illegal I should not do
> it. I think the point is moot, it looks like I need a key from the vendor to
> do this via a program. I can continue to do it manually though.
>
> Bob
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
> > [mailto:owner-midrange-l@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Jim Langston
> > Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 1999 11:42 AM
> > To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> > Subject: Re: Release License API Ethics
> >
> >
> > What do you mean by "wrong"?  And if you tell your customers you
> > are licensing it concurrent, and you license it concurrent, what could
> > possibly be "wrong" in that?
> >
> > This all depends on a number of factors.
> >
> > 1. Are you licensing the software the same way you did when your
> >     customers originally bought the software?
>
> <snip>
>
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