Re: office machines, software copies

On Mon, 7 Feb 1994 14:34:24 -0500 <jane_fredeman[_at_]sfu.ca> said:
>Can someone give me a short (or long) answer to the question of how many
>copies of a program a firm should purchase when several users and several
>machines are involved.

I'll try. I am not a lawyer. But I am a network administrator familiar with licenses.

>For example, six employees use filemaker and the records are stored on a
>server (a seventh computer). Do all these machines have to have separate
>copies? Does the server? What is the best group situation for an office of
>this size?

This sounds like a strange arrangement...I understand that filemaker (not a product I know, but that doesn't matter...maybe it is just a generic term for a product like you might want) is now on each of six computers. Yes, that means you need six legal copies. That means you can have one employee at each computer, all using the same program at the same time. It does not matter where they keep the data files, whether on their own C: drive, on a floppy, on a networked (X: or whatever) drive.

However....the normal scenario would be to have the filemaker software on the server....and again files could be stored anywhere, as above. But then you by the networked version of the software with a network license for as many simultaneous users as you wish to pay for. Filemaker may charge in increments of 1, but more likely in ranges, as 1-5, 6-10, 11-25, 26-50, 51+, or whatever. You would have to talk to them about their options. You then buy the right license, and the software is installed on the server. Either filemaker, or metering software that you buy separately, will then monitor the uses. If you have a license for five and the sixth person tries to connect, s/he will be refused and told to try again later, as you've only paid to let five people use it at once. Of course in many environments that is fine, as only two or three will be using it at any given time.

In essentially all cases the cost of a license for up to five users will cost less than five separate copies.

Also, your server will hopefully be a much faster machine than the user stations and you'll gain some there in most cases.

cyclops, who is NOT A LAWYER/ATTORNEY/BARRISTER/ETC.

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