Software

Licences and

Legal Requirements of

their use

Software Licences

A software licence is the term and conditions which are created by the software producer. This is legally created, so that users will understand specific consequences for copy righting their software. This is mostly read by high-end users and developers. All software is licenced and approved before installation is made. There are many different types of licencing in I.T, which can get confusing. There are nine main and common licences which are used daily. These are Proprietary, GNU General Public, EULA, Workstation, Concurrent use, Site, Perpetual, Non-perpetual and Licence with Maintenance.

Proprietary: this licence is when the software is granted to the publisher. Before a user is able to use the software, they must accept the licences. This means any modification and work done on the software, still belongs to the business. Most software are Proprietary. An example is Internet Explorer.

GNU General Public: this licence is mainly used when a software is free to download. An example of this is Foobar, which cannot be modified or edited from their restrictions.

End User Agreements (EULA): this is known as a contract, which the user has agreed pay for. This is between the publisher and the user (customer). If the user wishes to not accept the terms and conditions, a refund or exchange can be done by the publisher. A user may not accept it, if they don’t like the restrictions about the product. An example of this is Adobe applications.

Workstation: these licences can only be installed on one computer, as each product activation has to be purchased separately. These software let you have a backup stored on another computer, but only one machine can be activated at one time. These licences are used, so the publisher can prevent illegal installations and to enable the, to make more money.

Concurrent Use: these licences enable users to install more than one software on a multiple of machines. With this only a number that is defined in the package can be used at the same time. However this depends on the licence number. An example of this is Microsoft Office 365.

Site: this is when a software can be installed on every machine is a network/site. The software will be able to be used all at the same time,

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Software

Licences and

Legal Requirements of

their use

with no restrictions. This is usually done in education, such as secondary schools and universities.

Perpetual: these licences don’t have an expiry date, and are often pre-installed onto the computer system. An example of this is Windows 8. All operating systems don’t expire, as it is essential to have on a computer system.

Non-perpetual: these licences have expiry dates, and are used for specified time. These are usually products which are brought monthly or yearly. Once the licence has expired a new one can be brought again on an installation disk from the shops. An example of this is most internet securities, such as Norton.

Licence with Maintenance: these are agreements to purchase an upgraded and new licence, once the current one has expired. This will give users the latest updates and a renewed licence. An example of this is most protection software’s, such as AVG.

Software Legal Requirements

By law, software requirements must be legal. Without requirements publishers will be out of business and will not be able to offer support with their software’s. If there was no requirements, software’s will be modified and patched enabling hacking, and free software on paid services and products. The main things about legal requirements are about piracy control, patent infringement and copyright laws, and safety instructions.

Piracy Control: this is when users sell or share paid software illegally. High-end users also find a way to activate the product and share the information on social media sites such as YouTube.

Patent Infringement and Copyright Laws: this is used by publishers and creators of software. Patent infringements are automatically protected by copyright laws without any permission. This is done to secure privacy control. This prevents copy and free software to be shared on resold.

Safety Instructions: common and major issues with software must be shared with users as complaints and software failure reports will be created, which

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Software

Licences and

Legal Requirements of

their use

can put the publisher in court laws from not specifying their full software specification with their customers who have downloaded and paid for the software.

Processes involved

There are several processes that need to be done whilst installing software. These are:

1. Ensure that your user account is active and recognised.2. Prepare software by getting installation file and activation key

ready.3. Install the software.4. Test the software for it functionality.5. Register the software product online/offline.6. Solve problems with software if any by contacting the developer or

by using forums and customer support online.

Benefits of software registration

When purchasing a piece of software, it is recommended to register with the developer as it will benefit the user and the developer.

This will help the developer gain more positive customer service responses and will attract more customers and users to purchase their services and products. Advertising is very important to any business as it allows them to expand from having more existence to the public.

This will benefit the user, as the developer will provide extra support and services for their registered customers to keep them satisfied. They do this by giving free updates which fixes bugs and adds more features to allow the user to do more and enjoy the experience even more. Also the user can worry less about losing software information, as the developer will keep all the information backup and saved, so if the user forgets or losses the information, it can be restored by contacting customer service through email and online. Also if the developer is generous they will send out promotional offers and discount to their customers. They mostly do this by email, however sometimes they will send out letters, as it will make the user more engaged by felling more special.

Potential implications of installing software

Ajay Jassi

Software

Licences and

Legal Requirements of

their use

Although implication of installing software is not known as much, there is quite a few problems that customers/users have to be aware about. The common implication that affects most users is the download speed/rate. This will impact on how fast the file is downloaded. If many users are connected to the same network and is download a large amount of data/the same data as you, this will make the download speed slower. Another general thing non-technical-users do is download fake software, that isn’t officially produced by the developer and isn’t published by them. By doing this other unwanted software’s may be installed during the process without your knowledge. This can cause adware and viruses to the computer system. Lastly some developers only release there products on a CD, so customers/users fell more safe installing them as they know it is genuine. This is a more new implication as technology is changing and improving. This is a problem as an optical drive is required, whereas modern computers/laptops don’t have them to reduce the power consumption, weight and bulkiness.

Potential benefits of installing software

As well as implications, there are also some benefits from installing software that will satisfier users. One of the biggest benefits is new features that have been added to the software to allow users to do more than they could have previously couldn’t do with older versions. New software also fixes major bugs and fixes that offer a better experience and interface. The main benefit for users is when new software is released is that more security features are added, to ensure more protection to users and their computer systems.

Ajay Jassi