November 2001
CComputing for the Bewildered. By Bill Hayles
Hello again.
A reader, who had best remain anonymous asked me:
"A friend has lent me their copy of Microsoft Office 2000, but I can't
install it on my computer"
Also, at my class at the Oasis session, it became clear that several of
those present had been sold computers complete with various software
packages, but had not been given the original installation media
(usually CD ROM)for their packages. Again, I am not going to name
names. What it has prompted me to do is to explore the very grey area
of software licencing. This is another two parter. This month, I'll
look at retailed software. Next month, I'll look at the alternatives
and explain how you can save yourself a lot of money whilst staying
completely legitimate.
I have never bought any software. Neither have you. What we have paid
for is a licence to use the software. One way or another, we will have
agreed to a set of conditions, the licence terms, setting out how we
may use the software. The conditions vary from package to package, and
some are more restrictive than others, but usually you are given the
right to install the software on one computer, and one computer only.
Some licences are even more restrictive - they try to prevent you from
even removing the package from one computer and putting it on another.
At the other end of the spectrum, others allow the software to be
installed on more than one computer, provided both are used by the same
person and only one is in use at any given time. What they don't do is
to give you the right to install on multiple computers.
So, you have gone into Pedro's Software Emporium, and bought a copy of
WhizzBang Version 7 for a shade under 10 mil. What do you own? You own
the vast layers of wrapping that the package came in. You also own the
paper on which any manual is printed. The physical CD containing the
software is yours. If you want to, you can burn the box and manual,
and turn the CD into a coaster. But that's not why you paid your
money. That was for the software, the "intellectual property" as it is
called, encoded on the CD. You don't own that, you have bought a
licence to use it. The owner is the copyright holder of the software,
who has the right to decide under what terms the software will be
distributed.
The nearest comparison to computer software that most folk are familiar
with is that of a book. When you buy a book, you own the physical
paper and ink. You don't own the words contained therein. You have an
(implicit) right to read the book. You can also lend it to a friend to
read, or sell it. What you can't do is to make copies of the book and
either give them away or sell them. That is a breach of copyright; one
that is widely understood. Although possible, making a copy of a book
is not a trivial task, and may even cost more than buying a second
copy. Bookshops don't buy one copy, make 100 copies of their own, and
sell those. Therefore it isn't a problem for authors and publishers.
With computer software, things are very different. It is extremely
easy to use one CD to install a package onto as many computers as you
like. It's not hard to make a perfect copy of the CD. That's why
software licences make it quite clear you can't do
it, and various means, mostly unsuccessful or counterproductive, have
been devised to try to ensure it doesn't happen.
When software came on floppy disk, it was common for the installation
routine to mark the installation disk so that it couldn't be used a
second time without the first installation being uninstalled - with the
original disk in the drive. This caused problems when the original
software was accidentally wiped, or became corrupted, and the
installation disk couldn't be restored, thus upsetting legitimate
customers.
Another way, still occasionally used, is to require the use of a
physical device, a "dongle", to be attached to a port, usually the
parallel port. The software won't function without the dongle present.
Although this system is technically sound, it can be very fiddly, again
penalising legitimate users.
A third way, just emerging, is to require an "unlocking code" to
be obtained before the software will function. Microsoft are using this
for their WindowsXP and OfficeXP packages. In effect, it is compulsory
registration. There are many objections to the way this is being
implemented, and it remains to be seen how it works out in practice.
For most software, apart from a registration code, which can
be written down and used on as many installations as you like, there is
nothing stopping somebody from using one copy on a hundred
computers.
Pirating of software is thus rife. At one end of the spectrum is a
friend who lends you his copy. At the other are the factories in the
Far East turning out and selling thousands of copies of popular
software for a fraction of the correct price. Although any pirating is
a breach of the licence conditions, and is certainly unethical, whether
it is illegal is another matter and one that the world's legal systems
can't agree on, so I'm not going to even try. However, I do not approve
of software pirating in any shape or form. The person who can't install
their friend's copy on their machine will get no help from me. Other
than that, it's between them and their conscience.
This now brings us on to the much more important question of software
supplied with a computer.
If you buy a computer from a retailer, some software will usually (but
not always) come as part of the deal. A rogue dealer will simply use
the same physical copy to install on many machines. That way, they can
appear to boost the value of their computers without additional cost to
them. They may even make it clear to their customers that this is what
they are doing. However, a legitimate retailer will buy one copy, or at
least one licence, for every computer they sell with the software
installed - and this includes the operating system, assuming it's
Windows. They should give you the original CD from which they installed
the software, not only to prove it's legitimate, but also so that you
can reinstall should anything go wrong. Having said that, it is now
quite common for many licenses to be associated with one physical copy.
In this case, the original software won't be given to you on CD, but
will be put on your hard disk, either as a direct copy of the CD (NOT
the same thing at all as your particular installation), or as what is
called an ISO image that can be copied onto a CD with a CD writer.
If you have been sold a computer, and don't think you have been given
the original software in any shape or form, why not go back to the shop
and ask why? You may well get a perfectly satisfactory answer. But if
not, at least you know!
If you have a question you'd like me to answer in the column, please
e-mail it to questions@billnot.com, If you don't have e-mail, you can
always leave your question at the CopiShop. However, I can't guarantee
to answer questions personally.
My sessions on the Internet continue at the Oasis Centre. The next two
sessions are on 10th and 24th November at 1030, and all are welcome.
If you have been, thanks for reading this.