[P1] OT: Software Licensing

[david]

On Tuesday, July 8, 2003, at 03:34  PM, Jack Rodgers wrote:

>>  ACD Systems expects me to buy two
>> copies of Canvas 9 for both computers even though I only use one 
>> Canvas at a
>> time.
>
> Software...what a thing...it has made thieves, complainers and mad 
> people out of so many of us, including me.
>
> We don't complain about nor expect to use a set of tires on more than 
> one vehicle nor to be able to eat that $50 dinner more than once nor 
> to watch every movie in a theater on the one ticket (some theaters 
> have 10 or 20 screens showing different movies) even though we might 
> try to sneak into another movie. But we will complain about a $50 
> piece of software license and that we can only use it on one 
> computer...

Your analogies don't cut it. I'm not asking to consume something twice 
and only pay once. I own two Macs which can run the same software, just 
as I own two 2002 Saturns. If I wanted, I could buy 4 Michelins and 
move them from one Saturn to the other. My Michelin 'license' doesn't 
restrict me to just one car. Sure, it would be silly to trade the tires 
from one car to the other, but I'm not restricted by Michelin from 
doing so. Similarly, when I went to Sears for a new set of wrenches, 
the salesman didn't ask me which car I intended using them on. I can 
use them how I choose.

What software companies are increasingly doing are restricting how I am 
permitted to use what I have legitimately bought. Let's see how that 
works at your theatre...

Usher: Oh, I'm sorry sir, you'll have to leave.

Jack: Why?

Usher: Because you are watching Terminator 4 but you are eating Finding 
Nemo 2 popcorn

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
Good qualities are easier to destroy than bad ones, and therefore
uniformity is most easily achieved by lowering all standards.
  ~~ Bertrand Russell

David