jgarland@kean.ucs.mun.ca (08/14/90)
Recently I have upgraded several commercial packages--several Borland products, AskSam, Colorix VGA Paint. In the past, I've either stored or thrown out old manuals/disks at upgrade time. This time, I'm considering being a little more socially conscious. My question is, what is the propriety of giving these packages to some deserving and/or poor student or high school? While some software I own specifically mentions destroying or returning old versions after ugrading (e.g. Duet v1.16), these packages do not. Also, what could I tell the recipients about support? Thanks in advance. John Garland Bitnet: jgarland@mun Internet: jgarland@kean.ucs.mun.ca
rschmidt@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (roy schmidt) (09/01/90)
In article <125118@kean.ucs.mun.ca> jgarland@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes: >Recently I have upgraded several commercial packages--several Borland >products, AskSam, Colorix VGA Paint. >My question is, what is the propriety of giving these packages to some >deserving and/or poor student or high school? >Also, what could I tell the recipients about support? > >John Garland > Well, John, your motives are noble, but generally the license you purchase in order to use software generally applies only to the current version of the software. When you "upgrade", you are in effect extending the life of your license to the new version. The old version is no longer under license. The software itself is the property of the company from which you obtained your user's license. Of course, the manuals are also covered by the same agreement. Some firms, such as WordPerfect, now have a special program under which you may donate your old versions to primary and secondary schools, and the school receiving the donated software may apply to the company for a limited educational-use license (gratis). This license does not include any form of user support nor any right of "upgrade". If in doubt, write to the company(s) and ask if they would approve such use of "castoff" software. If they appear put off by your request, be insistent! Certainly this is not going to rob them of sales (as the schools would rarely purchase such software due to the cost) and might conversely increase their sales by interesting the budding computer users in the software. In short, the general answer is "No, you can't transfer old versions to another user, even free of charge." In the case of schools and other public/charitable institutions, we wouldn't want to get them in hot water for illegal software use. But for the deserving young hacker, who's watching? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy Schmidt | #include <disclaimer.h> Indiana University | /* They are _my_ thoughts, and you can't Graduate School of Business | have them, so there! */
s64421@zeus.usq.edu.au (house ron) (09/03/90)
jgarland@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes: >Recently I have upgraded several commercial packages--several Borland >... >My question is, what is the propriety of giving these packages to some >deserving and/or poor student or high school? While some software I What you are suggesting is illegal, if you only purchased upgrade rights. If you bought the entire package afresh, of course you can do as you please with the old copy. -- Regards, Ron House. (s64421@zeus.usq.edu.au) (By post: Info Tech, U.C.S.Q. Toowoomba. Australia. 4350)