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Software License Management

N

nwrigley

Senior member
I've worked as a computer consultant at a University where in certain labs they would have a set number of licenses for some of the more expensive software. These licenses were shared by all of the computers in the lab (lets say 60), but only 20 systems at any given time could have the software running even though it could be accessed from any of the 60 systems assuming there were still unused licenses available.

How do you go about deploying such a set-up in an office setting? I really have no idea how this is accomplished. I tried googling it but didn't know what I was searching for. Any answers or pointing in the right direction would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
 
This is against most licensing policies, I don't know the specific application that you are referring to so I won't say that what they were doing was illegal, but it is completely up to the manufacturer as to how they license their products. For example a company that I used to work for made software that was allowed to be installed on up to 3 computers without violating the license (intended for home, work and a laptop) The University may have been bending the rules a bit by only running the software on the number of computers that they had licenses for at one time, however many companies will still consider this a violation. The only sure fire way to know is to read the license.

/edit to clarify, some companies offer a network version of the software, or a special license for large institutions, the same company mentioned above had a network version of the software that they offered and the license was that the software could be installed on an unlimited number of computers on a corporate network, but as soon as another IP address went to update the software they were billed for an additional network license (10grand a pop heh) there is no magic bullet for all software, contact the manufacturer for more information about volume licensing.
 
A perfect example of what the OP is talking about is Autocad. I'm at a major Auto company and every computer in the building has it installed, however it checks how many licenses are in use when the program is executed and will not start if the maximum number of licenses are already running.

So then you have to run around and try to find someone's computer to turn off..... =)
 
Ok, I always wondered how this worked. I know the University wasn't breaking any licensing restrictions, so I knew it could be done. It sounds like it's a case by case scenario though.

I was considering submitting a proposal at work for them to look into doing this for some departments that basically have to go to use a shared computer when they need access to certain software. I?m not sure if I should submit a proposal since it?s hard to say what software this would work with.

Does anyone have a general idea off their head how rare/common it is to offer such licensing? Do you know if Adobe offers it? I'm sure I could look it up myself, but when I start going through legal issues I tend to get more confused afterwards and am never sure that I understood it correctly.
 
Originally posted by: nwrigley
Ok, I always wondered how this worked. I know the University wasn't breaking any licensing restrictions, so I knew it could be done. It sounds like it's a case by case scenario though.

I was considering submitting a proposal at work for them to look into doing this for some departments that basically have to go to use a shared computer when they need access to certain software. I?m not sure if I should submit a proposal since it?s hard to say what software this would work with.

Does anyone have a general idea off their head how rare/common it is to offer such licensing? Do you know if Adobe offers it? I'm sure I could look it up myself, but when I start going through legal issues I tend to get more confused afterwards and am never sure that I understood it correctly.
Click to expand...

The general CS2 license IIRC is one per computer, but just give them a call, you don't even have to research, they have sales people that know the answer 🙂

/edit, plus you can keep asking them until it's clear to you, they're being paid to answer your questions!
 
Originally posted by: nwrigley
Does anyone have a general idea off their head how rare/common it is to offer such licensing? Do you know if Adobe offers it? I'm sure I could look it up myself, but when I start going through legal issues I tend to get more confused afterwards and am never sure that I understood it correctly.
Click to expand...
As DaiShan notes, this is NOT a common licensing scenario.

I'm not aware of any Adobe licensing that allows users to share licenses. Adobe does sell volume licenses, though, as does Microsoft and most other software makers.
 
if you have the cash and run Windows, then check out Microsoft's Systems Management Server. It had this capability for many years.

It installs a client app on each PC that checks with the SMS server which options are enabled. License control is one of them. You tell it the .exe file of the app and it will keep track of how many people have it open. It puts itself between the exe and opening the app so it checks the license database before letting you open the app.
 
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