At 04:59 PM 12/5/2006 -0500, David Crooks wrote: > >I'll concede to that explanation. > >I see both points, BUT I paid for it and you sold it to me so I should >be able to use it.. > >Software has always been sold as a license for you to use. Usually the >license is for 1 user 1 PC. Borland's software license was more like a ...
The Borland license is more appropriate (and more ethical IMO). You buy a software product. It is yours. You own 'it' (which is that copy of 'runtime' code of an application). You should be able to do whatever you want with that 1 copy. Install it on a machine - but then you trash that machine and buy a new one - so install it on the new one. Or you upgrade and give the old computer to someone - uninstall the software on the old and install it on the new. That is the most fair approach to all concerned. Treating software like a 'book' is about the closest, best thing we have to compare to. Of course, most companies (and people too I suppose) like the idea of getting paid something for nothing. Thus the birth of 'rental' software (although in the case of MS you could probably argue the last couple OS upgrades have been pretty much paying something for nothing.. <g>). Rental software is a horrible idea. It should be resisted by everyone. For those of you who like the idea of monthly pay, you should set up your sales to reflect what they're really paying for - i.e. available support, free software upgrades (for a specific period of time), etc. There are plenty of ways to get to repeat-payments without trying to force a 'purchased product' into a 'rental'. -Charlie _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
