what are acceptable licensing terms?

Posted by moritz
May 18, 2009 at 03:56 AM

Owning multiple PCs, I have found myself looking more closely at licensing terms for “single user” scenarios.
I would like to collect your thoughts (maybe to guide some of the software authors lurking on this forum) on what would be “reasonable” for your purposes.
Here are some examples from software that I own or didn’t buy because of licensing terms (all of these scenarios are for SINGLE USER):

category 1—license works on 1 PC, second PC requires additional license
examples: RoboForm
con: can get too expensive if alternative in category 4, 3, 2 (in order of preference) exists

category 2—license works on 2 PCs, some sort of online activation scheme
examples: Microsoft Office, Buzan iMindMap, MindManager post-7.1 some photo editing apps (e.g. Capture One)
con: becomes a burden if activation scheme doesn’t work reliably and tech support needs 4 days to reset activation counter (e.g. iMindMap—reason I didn’t update to 4.0 Ultimate)
con: gets increasingly expensive with number of PCs (I keep old PCs around, currently own 10 PCs)
pro: (kudos to Capture One): Assuming the activation scheme allows me to reset activation for all PCs, I have found that very effective to overcome the activation blues.

category 3—license “says” that you are only allowed to use it on 2 PCs
examples: MindManager pre-7.2
pro: no activation hassle (those schemes tend to break, e.g. if you run the same Windows partition on a Mac both from Bootcamp and Vmware/Parallels)
con: expensive if you are strict about licensing terms. If you just keep it around on some PCs for use once per quarter that’s still technically possible (e.g. if one of your 2 primary machines is getting serviced and is unavailable).

category 4—license “says” you can only run one copy at a time (no technical checks), but unlimited number of PCs (for one “named” user!)
examples: Personal Brain, Zoot, OmniOutliner, OmniGraffle
pro: I feel that I am getting my money’s worth—“per user” license allows me (as an individual) to use the software when and where I need it.
pro: because of the higher value I am getting for my money I am more likely to support the company/author in the future and recommend the product.
pro: I can use the product more often than I would in any of the other categories.

category 5—license states “non-commercial use only”
examples: InfoQube
pro: cheaper prices for hobbyists
con: in this case (commercial price 6x higher than personal use) ignores the fact that in a large corporation I have to buy it out of my own pocket anyway (procurement costs + current state of the economy getting in the way of having the company buy it for me).
con: affects only people with a conscience and/or very strict licensing tracking in the workplace (I could lose my job over licensing violations).
con: dishonest people not affected by licensing terms (but then maybe they are running a pirated copy anyhow)

So to sum it up, I will buy
cat 4 - true “personal” license without reservation
cat 3 - carefully consider if the 2 PC limitation describes 99% of my use (and if need be acquire additional licenses)
cat 1 - similar to 3, but by default almost always 2x more expensive (so multiply MSRP by 2)
cat 2 - be wary but buy if no alternative exists (e.g. Microsoft, Adobe)
cat 5 - impossible for me. If I am spending money on software I want to be able to use it to get ahead in my job, even if my company doesn’t fund it.

What are your thoughts, did I miss any single user licensing/activation categories and do these differences affect your buying decisions as much as they affect me?