Number Of Pc's Covered By A License

[Norfolk DJ 0]

 

A mate of mine has told me that he has a software license covering 3 PC's.

 

Does this mean that this type of license only covers the purchaser or the computers to which the software is installed on?

 

 

[Spear 0]

A mate of mine has told me that he has a software license covering 3 PC's.

 

Does this mean that this type of license only covers the purchaser or the computers to which the software is installed on?

 

It just means that he can use the software on 3 pc's instead of 1. Saves buying more than 1 disc/download of say antivirus software if you have more than 1 computer. I do this with more NIS they all have the same software renewal/ expiry date which is activated when the software is installed on the 1st machine regardless of when the last pc has it installed.

 

Hope this helps. smile icon

[vokf 0]

I've written software with such a license. We'd provide 3 serial numbers (each serial number is based on a magic number generated by each PC - so its not transferable without our control).

The other way, is to have a licensing server (aka, DRM), so you can install on many PC's, but only use 3 concurrently. The server will authorise each client.

 

In the case of NIS, it will "call home", and if you were illegally breaching the licensing agreement they would know and could decide to take action.

I do know of a company that thought it was clever in buying a single copy (single user licence) of software, and were taken to court by the BSA (Business Software Alliance)

 

 

In my day job, I also manage the IT- and we have a MS site license. We can download XP/Vista/Office and install to xx PC's (within our agreed limit).

 

So - its fairly common. It can be difficult to keep track of the licences, not sure a problem with 2 or 3 PC's though.

 

If its in the terms of the license agreement, all is cool smile icon