Open licensing: their gain, your pain
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I'm referring to the So what is an "open license"? The term apparently evolved from what mostfolks refer to as volume purchasing: buying software licenses in bulkwithout the extra boxes and CD-ROMs. With an open license, instead of allthat packaging, all you need to keep track of are license numbers orunlocking keycodes - and those can even be delivered by e-mail. Is it environmentally friendly? Sure. Is it cost-effective? Not as much asit should be. Is it open? Heck, no. As you might guess from the names of some of the companies who offer it, openlicensing has nothing to do with open source. On the contrary, some of theprime marketers using the term are those most interested in the failure ofopen source software. Indeed, I can think of few companies more hostile toopen source ideals than Microsoft and Adobe. (Luckily the most desirablesoftware from those vendors have open source replacements, such as Linux, On the flip side of the coin, Linux-friendly companies such as You would think that paying for license numbers and keys rather thancardboard boxes and plastic would save you all kinds of money andheadaches. This kind of transaction was practically made for e-commerce,direct from the software publisher to you. Unfortunately, the workings ofthe proprietary software industry make such high-tech savings much lessattractive. The main obstacle to the real passing on of bulk-license savings to buyers is theintervention of software wholesalers and retailers. This complex chain ofdistribution serves a valuable purpose in moving of boxes of software, but it also getsin the way of the customer's desire to get extra keys quickly andinexpensively. A few weeks ago I attended a seminar sponsored by software wholesalerIngram Micro that extolled the merits of so-called open licensing to asmall assortment of resellers. The primary message of the session was thatresellers shouldn't be afraid of open license plans, and it described thevarious ways that resellers can inject themselves into these simplemoney-for-keys transactions. Because of the involvement of this extra level in bulk-purchasetransactions, the speed and convenience that online shoppers should takefor granted are replaced with procedures that are cumbersome, bureaucraticand full of needless paper trails. I've seen the forms that resellersneed to fill out to be involved in bulk-buy programs, and the complex point systems used to calculate what constitutes a volume purchaseunder some of these plans. It isn't pretty. However, The threat of the audit is the key here: while buying a typical box ofsoftware doesn't require you to allow for an arbitrary audit, buying inbulk can. Virginia Beach, in order to get the volume rates, signed acontract that subjected the city to audits at Microsoft's demand. Still interested in open licensing? Consider software based real open licenses -- Or, you could just keep in mind that use of the term "open" in "openlicensing" really refers to "open checkbook." Have you looked at your bulk contract lately? Let me know in the TalkBack below.
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