I'd like to supplement my message below by mentioning the fact that QSR have
suggested that they will be prepared to talk about renewable licences -
thats great - but does it address their concerns of the possible
indiscriminate spread of the software - does the idea of 'renewable' mean
'time expiring software' -
I suppose I am concerned at two levels - how I give permission and how the
software developer is protected.
The second thing is - what are the technical implications of building in
time expiry -/ is it difficult?
And also - time expiring software needn't apply to every piece of software
delivered - just to institutional/serving the needs of students/ short term
projects - i.e. a special type of site licence
And in a perfect world - the cost woudl vary according to a defined
approximate number of issues - so relatively small usage of up to 200 copies
per instituion woudl be VERY different to e.g. in excess of 200 (we still
are not in the levels of usage possible for SPSS)
In the final analysis - the built in time expiry is the thing which is
protecting the developer.
Ann Lewins
-----Original Message-----
From: Ann Lewins <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 22 June 1999 19:10
Subject: Re: Student Prices and Limited Versions
>Susanne says..
>>
>>Why don't we try to better advocate QDA packages in our universities so
>that
>>they buy it for the computer labs? A site licence for a QDA package costs
>much
>>less than a site licence for a lot of other programs. It shouldn't be so
>>difficult to convince them, if you can point out that the demand is there.
>This
>>of course loops back to the kind of courses that are offered and that
maybe
>a
>>better balance should be achiebed between teaching quant and qual methods.
>
>Susanne talks about site licences as if they are all the same thing -they
>are not - with QDA, you in the main have to define exactly HOW MANY copies
>you want licences for , and then you pay for them - each.
>
>I think there are very good aspects of the type of drop dead SPSS
agreements
>available which are of benefit to both student and institution,
particularly
>when we have to be so concerned about legality of usage.
>
>Along these lines ...the legal use of such QDA software by students often
>rests on them having to use it in labs to which they have crowded access or
>can only use at certain times - or it rests on very worrying decisions and
>processes concerned with letting them have the LEGAL use of the s/w
>elsewhere TEMPORARILY to be able to work more quietly and productively.
>
>I would like to see time-expiring software (as SPSS) - [I mean it actually
>stops working] - with renewable site licences - which are not so dependent
>on the institution defining numbers of users up front. How do we define
>possible numbers when we have no idea of demand - and how can we control
the
>legality of software - (e.g. if we have loaned a student 1 out of 50
licence
>extensions for his duration at the university). Without being unduly
>pessimistic or cynical, in practical terms from then on the s/w is in the
>hands of the student using it in perpetuity - once he has been granted
>temporary usage of it at home or in his office.
>
>To my mind this is not in the developer's, the distributor's, the licence
>holder's or the student's interest.
>
>At least with SPSS the University has the power to re-ratify the users
right
>to use the software at expiree date, and frankly I think most woudl be
>prepared dto pay a bit more for a renewable software over which they retain
>more control.
>
>WEll I throw it into the debate ....as a licence holder who is trying to
>come up with some reasonable guesstimate about overall 'site licence'
>numbers to buy, I think the current situation is a nightmare. One of the
>reasons I am so concerned is because I see its knock on effects on the
>developers who need the income from the legal spread of the software.
There
>are cultures around the use of software which are far from legal, and
>universities and many other instituions are very concerned to keep to the
>spirit and (the letter) of the law.
>
>Ann Lewins
>Resource Officer, CAQDAS Networking Project
>Dept of Sociology
>University of Surrey
>GUILDFORD GU2 5XH
>email: [log in to unmask]
>CAQDAS web site: http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/caqdas/
>Tel +44 (0)1 483 259 455
>Fax +44 (0)1 483 259 551
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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