What Does the License Allow?

About this interactive

The Software Licensing lesson starts with the idea everything else rests on: when you buy software, you do not own the software. You buy a license, the right to use it on its maker's terms, the way renting billboard space does not make the billboard yours. How long it lasts. A perpetual license is a one-time purchase that lets you keep using the version you bought. A subscription works only while you keep paying. A one-time purchase with a maintenance plan gets you each new version while you pay the maintenance; stop, and you keep the version you had then. How it is limited. By the number of devices or users; by concurrent users, how many at the same moment; by site, such as a school's IP address range; by hardware, such as CPU cores; or by time. Free access. Open source lets you get and use the source code; freeware is free to use, without the code. Shareware lets you use it before you pay, in several models: freemium (a free part, a paid premium), trialware (free for a limited time), crippleware (not fully working until you pay, like a watermark on exports), nagware (full features, with reminders to pay), adware and donationware. The terms are in the end-user license agreement (EULA). Some software must be activated (a key, your credentials, a hardware device, a location); registering usually gets you support or the warranty, and gives the maker your details for marketing. Read each situation, choose what happens, and read the reveal.

What you'll learn

Predict what a software license allows in a real situation: what happens when a subscription, a trial or a maintenance plan ends, and what perpetual, concurrent, site, per-device, per-core and freemium terms permit
Recognize that buying software buys a license to use it on its terms, written in the EULA, and tell open source, freeware and the shareware models (freemium, trialware, crippleware, nagware) apart by what they let you do

Aligned to

CompTIA Tech+

3.3 Explain the purpose and proper use of software.

CompTIA A+ Core 2

4.6 Explain the importance of prohibited content/activity and privacy, licensing, and policy concepts.

Key terms

Perpetual License: A one-time software purchase that grants the user the right to use that version of the software indefinitely.
Subscription License: A licensing model in which users pay on a recurring basis to access software, losing access when the subscription lapses.
Concurrent User License: A licensing model that limits the number of users who can access a software application simultaneously.
Site License: A license that permits software use by any user within a specific physical location or IP address range.
End User License Agreement: A legal contract between a software developer and the end user that defines the permitted uses, restrictions, and terms governing the software.
Freemium: A licensing model that offers a basic version of software for free while charging for advanced or premium features.
Freeware: Software that is available to use at no cost but whose source code is not made available for modification.

Topics

Software Licensing Eula Subscription License Perpetual License Interactive Predict

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