Software Licensing

What is software licensing

-unlike hardware, you technically don't buy software, you license the use of the software

-highest TCO of system

How to categorize software licensing

-proprietary

-free or open source

Why do you license software

necessary because all software is copyright protected and easy to duplicate

How is software licensed

-license comes with off the shelf software

-OEM license included with software bundled with hardware like a new computer purchase

How licensing confrimed

through the use of license agreement

What is a license agreement

stipulates how that particular copy of software can be used

What is included in the license agreement

EULAs and its enforceability depends on several factors

What is the normal stipulations of a license agreement

limits the copyright owners liability, prohibits reverse engineering, prohibit retribution, etc.

What is proprietary licensing

license is granted for use of a copy of the software but ownership of the copy remains with the publisher

What is normally apart of the proprietary licensing agreement

-limited rights are provided to the end users

-many denied rights would be provided under standard copyright law

-no reverse engineering, source code modification, or redistribution

What is required for proprietary licensing

end user must accept the license agreement prior to installation

What are the proprietary licensing models

-time based and all deployed on per-software-copy basis

-deployment-based

-some licensing schemes are a hybrid of these

What is time based licensing

-perpetual licensing

-annual licensing

-software rental

What is annual licensing

typically includes updates and may include upgrades

What is software rental

ie per use license

What software rental normally used for

-can be cost effective for rarely used applications

-often used for demo versions of software

What is software maintenance

-add on program where you pay an annual fee to get upgraded support

-normally additional cost to the initial software/license cost

What does software maintenance normally involve

-covers functionality upgrades and security fixes

-support program that goes above and beyond the standard warranty and tiers are available that provide better service for more moeny

What do you need for software maintenance

a valid license for the software

What is deployment based licensing

licensing that is based on how software is deployed, not based on time

What are the types of deployment based licensing

-stand-alone software licensing

-client/server licensing

What is stand alone licensing

software that runs on an individual machine rather than in a client/server environment

What are the approaches to stand alone licensing

-individual licenses

-floating licenses

What are individual licenses

each machine owns a distinct license, which is often tied to that particular machine like an operating system

What are floating licenses

licenses cover concurrent usage only, regardless of the number of installations like "reading a book" analogy

What is client/server licensing

software that base both client-side and server-side component and how its implemented is all about where the license is enforced

What are the approaches of client/server licensing

-per-connection licenses

-client access license (CAL)

What is per connection licenses

enforced on the server and governs the number of concurrent connections to that particular server

How is per connection licenses purchased

per server regardless of the number of clients

What is client access licenses (CAL)

enforced on the client and governs how a client access a server-based resource

How is CAL purchased

per client regardless of the number of servers

What is volume licensing

when offered, allows a single license key to validate multiple software copies

When is volume licensing used

often used in government or education

How is volume licensing priced

cost are allocated based on the number of individual licenses in the pool

What was the issue with volume licensing

no formal mechanism to track how may copies of the software were installed but recently was replaced with activation requirements

Why is volume licensing vulnerable

easy to exploit like the famous FCKGW key or the "Timestop t2a" hack

What are the methods used to eliminate piracy

enforced product activation

-windows genuine advantage (WGA)

-key management server (KMS) deployments

What is key management service (KMS)

-current microsoft solution to volume licensing

-KMS host is configured with VLK

-microsoft validates key

-client activate software by registering their key with the KMS host

What is used with KMS

the slmgr command used for all aspects of KMS management (server and client)

What is required for KMS

won't activate until the activation threshold is meet

What is the activation threshold

-minimum number of clients required to register with the KMS host to activate

-normally 25 clients, 5 for servers

What is open source licensing

-license is granted for use of a copy of software and ownership of the copy transfer to the end user but the ownership of the copyright remain with the publisher

-normally accepting the license agreement is optional and conditions for licensing

What are end-users allowed to have open source licensing

the right to do almost anything the owner can do like reverse engineer, modify source code, and redistribute

What are the normal conditions for open source licensing

-any modifications made and redistributed must include source code

-end user is not allowed to re-assert the removed copyright restrictions

What are the examples of open source licensing

-GNU General Public License (GPL)

-BSD License

-MIT License

What is GNU General Public License (GPL)

most common but slightly more restrictive than others

What is BSD License

originally governed the BSD OS but since expanded to cover lots of software

What is MIT License

governs X-Windows, PuTTY, etc

What is software license audit

done periodically to ensure compliance

What happens if there is non compliance in software license

result in all sorts of bad things like monetary and legal liability

How can software licenese audits be conducted

-internally, voluntarily by third party or forcibly

-some software can help but its difficult to be 100% sure

What to do when asked during a software license aduit

need the license and invoice proving legit purchase

What are some external software audit sources

-vendors can be hired but its unlikely

-vendor higher a third party if non compliance is suspected

-software and information association (SIIA)

What is software and information association (SIIA)

-anti piracy division

-trade group representing many software vendors

Why did SIIA grow popular

for its 1992 campaign "Don't Copy that Floppy"

What is the business software alliance (BSA)

-founded in 1988 and is focused on trying to stop software copyright infringement

-in conjunction with vendors and law enforcement means criminal liabilities

What members are included in the BSA

microsoft, dell, HP, adobe, intuit, cisco, sybase, symantec, etc.

Why has BSA come under fire

-due it tactics like reward of $200K to disgruntled employees if they snitch of their company

-information can also come from fired employees or competitors

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