Software Licensing: The Hidden Truth

[Valour]

Here's the article.

It's time we started taking licensing seriously. A lot of people don't see the benefit of Free Software because they don't see why proprietary software is bad. Hopefully this article will help shed some light on the issue.

-Jem

[Oopla]

Excellent article Jem.

Thought I would share my favorite analogies to software Licensing.

Buying a Microsoft product is like buying A ford then being told you can't open up the Hood, and oh, BTW you cant take it up over 60 MPH or let your Children Drive it.

Or that buying an Adobe product is like buying a GI Joe then being told you can't take it out of the package.

-oopla

[J.F.]

Actually, MS's EULA is like buying a Jaguar and being told you can only make right turns and you can't use the glove compartment.

[Valour]

Actually, MS's EULA is like buying a Jaguar and being told you can only make right turns and you can't use the glove compartment.

Jaguar? More like a Yugo -- and you wouldn't own a title to it, Microsoft would own it and allow you to use it under oppressive conditions. If you break those conditions, they repo the car.

Amazing how when we apply EULA terms to other things, it becomes so unreasonable... yet so many people give any thought to software licensing.

-Jem

[J.F.]

I meant a Jaguar as far as PRICE goes. As far as sophistication, Windows is almost up to Model T functionality. I agree with the article completely, which is why I've spent the last couple months playing around with the various Linux and BSD 64 bit OSes, and trying out Windows XP64. I think they add extra terms to the preview editions of Windows. I should double-check it as I didn't bother to read it.

Seriously, I have better things to do than spend three days with my law dictionary and a 57 page EULA that in the end says virtually nothing other than the user doesn't really have any rights over software they've legally purchased.

I liked SUSE 9, but for some reason, it was running dog slow on my system. Probably some conflict with ACPI (needs to be disabled on most 64 bit OSes to work right).

[Valour]

Trial and beta proprietary software generally includes extra provisions in the EULA that prevent you from publishing benchmark results. Some also have an "embargo" on the publishing of information about the product until a certain date (usually the release date). Intel does this with their review products and pre-release press kits.

64-bit just ain't there yet for heavy desktop use. ACPI has been a problem for both BSD and Linux lately, mainly because it's tied to so many different parts of the system. ACPI affects your hard drive, display, optical drives, USB, LAN... everything. If you can safely turn it off (as I had to do with SuSE 9.0/i386 on my AMD64 machine) you'll usually be okay.

Microsoft's licenses actually aren't that tough to read when compared with some others. IBM and Macromedia are very lawyer-centric in their licenses. Sun's licenses are a mile long, but they're deceiving; the initial license is somewhat short, but then there are pages and pages of supplements that cover possibilities that are unlikely to arise (such as the Xerox GUI provision -- see the Blade 1500 review for details). Red Hat's license agreement forces you to agree to software audits.

Overall the parts of the licenses I've read that really bother me are the ones that prevent me from sharing. As a sort of a freelance technician it's very important to my work to have an OS that I can lend or give to anyone in need. Right now that's SuSE 9.0 for most people because it's easy to use and configure and I have less callbacks on SuSE than on Windows XP. I'm glad I don't have to pay people for computer service... it costs a fortune to support Windows on the desktop.

-Jem

[jmsams]

"If you don't agree to the license, don't lie and say that you do -- refuse to use the software and demand a refund." This is an interesting idea given that most software retailers will not let you bring the product back other than for an identical exchange once it's opened. Given the only way you can read and accept or decline the license is to begin the installation, it would be interestig to see what the courts would say about this refund policy. Doea anyone know of someone that got a refund from a retailor by saying they won't accept the license?

The piracy you talk about is in good part because these licenses make law abiding citizens criminals and i'm guessing most of us figure if we're going to commit a "property" once, we may as well do it again and again. A criminal act like a sin gets easier to commit the more often you commit it.

[Foolhardy]

Very nice Jem - one of your most informative articles. 8)

foo

[Valour]

"If you don't agree to the license, don't lie and say that you do -- refuse to use the software and demand a refund." This is an interesting idea given that most software retailers will not let you bring the product back other than for an identical exchange once it's opened. Given the only way you can read and accept or decline the license is to begin the installation, it would be interestig to see what the courts would say about this refund policy. Doea anyone know of someone that got a refund from a retailor by saying they won't accept the license?

The piracy you talk about is in good part because these licenses make law abiding citizens criminals and i'm guessing most of us figure if we're going to commit a "property" once, we may as well do it again and again. A criminal act like a sin gets easier to commit the more often you commit it.

Most license agreements specifically say that you are entitled to a refund from the point of purchase if you don't agree to the license. Since you must open the box and begin installation before you see the license, it makes sense that you would be entitled to a refund since you can't guess what the license will say.

-Jem

[Valour]

Very nice Jem - one of your most informative articles. 8)

foo

Thanks -- too bad only NewsForge linked to it though. I'll resubmit to Slashdot later on. I'm kind of surprised that OSNews didn't pick it up. I wonder what's up with them lately...

-Jem