Re: Backup to CD

["Arlen P. Walker" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

     1. Most software licenses now permit users to make at least one backup
        copy. The intention of licensing is usually to get people to pay for
        using software, not to prevent them from protecting their investment,
        and since the CD version would never be used simultaneously with the
        current licensed version, this should fall within the guidelines.

Um, yeah, but... many software licenses also require you to destroy previous
versions when you upgrade to new ones. If yours does, what happens when you
upgrade?

You present a very understanding company. I can't help but remember the story of
a company that was caught in Hurricane Andrew. The computer and the software and
the manuals and all the backups were destroyed. Quark, even though it
acknowledged the company had purchased a license to Xpress and was legally
entitled to run it, refused to replace the lost software. They were also within
their legal rights to refuse, I agree. The point is most SW companies really
don't care about protecting your investment, as long as they get their money up
front. If they could charge you for protecting your investment, they'd
cheerfully do that as well.

Many licenses are *not* concurrent use licenses, but rather licenses which
permit installation on one machine at a time, and require removal before they
can be installed on another machine. Check how that fits into what you're doing.
Some licenses prohibit installation on shared media, such as a network. I'm not
sure but perhaps your CD-ROM, since it is portable, would also fall under that
provision.

     2. Even where the license doesn't explicitly permit backups or
        explicitly prohibits them, I've read (don't recall where) that such
        licenses are generally impossible to enforce legally... even if the
        developers could catch you.

I'm sorry, but I've always had trouble with the attitude that "it's only wrong
if I'm caught." It's totally lacking in both integrity and ethics. (Perhaps
Richard's paraphrase gave this undue emphasis.) As to enforceable, I'm no lawyer
so I don't know, but I'd hesitate to say that they can't control their own
property. (The SW, in most cases, remains the property of the company, and all
you own is a license to run it. You're free, of course, to make as many copies
of the license as you need for your archives.)

Have fun,
Arlen

arlen -dot- p -dot- walker -at- jci -dot- com
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