MAKING SENSE OF SOFTWARE
LICENSING
A software licence is an agreement between you and the owner of a software program that allows to do certain things that would otherwise be an infringement of copyright law.
Know what "free" means. In the context of software licensing, free doesn't refer to price. It means free in the sense of free speech and refer to the rights and restrictions imposed on using software.
Free or open-source software has fewer restrictions. Glossing over a lot of nuances, if a program is released under a free software licence or an open source licence, you generally don't have to ask anyone's permission to use it. You can also copy and redistribute the software to your heart's content.
Proprietary software has more restrictions. If the software is proprietary or closed-source, there will usually be significant restrictions in the licence that limits the ways you can use the software.
Read the End User Licence Agreement (EULA). It's always a good idea to review these agreement, but its specially important to do so for one-off or small software purchases from less well-known companies. The EULA spells out what you can and can't do with software. It covers everything from how many copies you can install to what the software company can do with your data and what additional software the company can install on your computer.
When we install software we do it very carelessly , we must have to read the agreement. The process for installing software varies from product to product. You'll need to read the specific instructions you receive in order to properly install and (for some products) activate your software.
Most major vendors offer some type of bulk purchasing and volume licensing option for software. The terms vary, but if you order enough software to qualify, volume licensing can be cheaper and more convenient for your organization. Nonprofits sometimes qualify for volume licensing with very small initial purchases. Also, volume licensing often provides you with a central place to manage all your licenses for a particular product or group of products. Some volume licensing options can also help make installation easier with a single, organization-wide activation code for a particular product.
What we can or can't do with software?
As mentioned earlier, if the software is proprietary or closed-source, the license agreement will usually limit the ways you can use the software, copy it, alter it, and redistribute it. Also, you usually won't have access to the underlying source code.
A few terms it will be helpful to know are
License Key (also known as a software key or product key) — This is usually a long string of letters and numbers that you enter at some point in the software installation process. The key helps ensure that the user is in compliance with software vendors' or creators' copyright restrictions and is authorized to use their software. Not all software requires a license key.
Activation — This is the process of entering your license key to turn on the full set of features available in a software package. For example, if you download a free trial version of software, you may need to purchase and enter a license key to start using the full paid version. Not all software requires activation. Activation may be done offline or, more frequently, online.
Deactivation or Transfer — If you want to stop using the software on one computer and start using it on a different computer, you may need to deactivate the license on the old computer before you can transfer it to a new computer.
In everyday conversation, there's not much difference between "free software" and "free and open-source software" (FOSS). However, the official definitions and underlying philosophies do differ. See how the official definition of free software differs from theofficial definition of open-source software. For a short description of the difference, read Live and Let License.
For a longer discussion from the "free software" perspective, read Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software. For the "open-source" perspective, read Why Free Software is Too Ambiguous. Categories of Free and Non-Free Software covers topics like copyleft and public domain software.
Other commonly used terms include
Freeware — Free proprietary software, usually small downloadable utilities. You don't have the right to view the source code, and you may not have the right to copy and redistribute the software.
Shareware (also known as trialware or demoware) — Trial software that you can use free of charge for a limited time (usually 30 or 60 days). After that, you're expected to pay to continue using it.
Not for Resale (NFR) — Versions of software that are usually distributed for testing, preview, or donation purposes. They may include different features than the regular retail product. NFR versions usually don't include the same technical support options as the retail product.