VCL Software Licensing

Software Licensing in the VCL Context

Henry E. Schaffer
Professor Emeritus of Genetics and Biomathematics
Coordinator of Special IT Projects & Faculty Collaboration/ITD
Interim Director Emeritus, LTS/DELTA

History of Software as IP

IP = Intellectual Property
Who owns it?
- Intellectual Property concepts by J. K. Taylor and H. E. Schaffer. Also see lecture notes for Ethics of Intellectual Property (IP) by H. E. Schaffer and J. K. Taylor
Bottom Line - laws and ethics provide boundaries
- Higher ed must respect these boundaries - like it or not
Predominant model of obtaining software for use - licensing

A somewhat historical narrative of licensing
with liberties wrt exact sequence

pervasive, complex - getting worse
important in higher ed env - more important for VCL - critical for Cloud
old model - license tied to a physical computer (1980s)
- simple, no trouble when individual installations were done
- kept disk(ette)s next to computer, with manuals
- support intensive
- even here licensing concerns by vendors
  - dongle
image - install over net or via physical install
- same image on every machine
  - little problem wrt OS (you bought one per machine anyhow)
  - " " " site license
- but most apps fall in the middle
- where vendors get even more concerns
At present - great complexity in providing software services to higher ed users
- Licenses have become complex - often interfere with reasonable use
- license manager - c. 1991 download software for session
- license servers (e.g. Keyserver, FlexLM) often are used today

Vendors and Costs

(some) Vendors want higher ed students to learn to use their software
- develop market vs. use higher ed as a revenue source
  - for some vendors (e.g. Bb, WebAssign, ...) higher ed is their rev src
  - but most want *some* revenue - and want it to reflect use
    - use: # of users, # of hours, # of apps
    - ed & gov't dislike use pricing - since have fixed budgets
Higher Ed always concerned about cost
- Open Source software
  - It's Free! (not like free beer, more like free puppy)
  - Still licensed
  - Must include support costs to get TCO
  - Doesn't cover all needs
- Pay whatever vendor wants -
  - Often unreasonably expensive
    - (we're willing to pay appropriately - but (M ath example) )
    - Site licenses usually based on FTE students/faculty/staff/whatever
      - or do by department or some other unit
  - Often unreasonably restrictive - interferes with needed flexibility done because of legit vendor concerns
Higher Ed often doesn't know how much is needed
- would be willing to pay if knew it was justified
- Basis for negotiation

VCL and Licensing

VCL world brings many of these issues to the fore - esp. at large scale
Cultural/legal developments - with lag time and small steps to adapt to new use model
- vendor - balancing risks of difficulty of use with revenue loss risk but don't know VCL (new) strengths and features
- vendors - large ones - tend to prefer their own DRM - often with incompatible "features" - but AFAIK always can be accomodated
- Previously ed sector had to depend on lure of training students + good will
- Now - new development:
VCL provides strong support of licenses - better for vendor and easy support
- no problem with site licenses - of course not
- license manager - fine
  - treats excess as "no resource available" and offers schedule
- seat count
  - network license (pricing strategy from some vendors)
  - VCL can see seats in use -
    - treats excess as "no resource available" and offers schedule
Example of Research progress on Open Licensing systems
VCL central facilities - licensing terms may need clarification
- "ownership" of computer - many licenses restrict this
  - usually can arrange as long as ed (not for profit ed) owns
- multiple releases of software can be available
concern about who (esp. students)
- often can arrange after explanation that without auth, users can't even see apps

Bottom Line - Overall Outlook

Higher visibility than usual student use
- Incentive to do the right things
Less trouble in the long run to do it right
- license managers work without alteration
- built in tools

Must work with the vendors if their current licenses aren't suitable!