Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
In other cases, you pay for your usage—if you use the software more, you pay more. This
approach is becoming popular with software placed on networks or larger computers. Most
of these protections prevent you from copying software and giving it to others without re-
strictions. Some software now requires that you
register
or
activate
it before it can be fully
used. Registration and activation sometimes put software on your hard disk that monitors
activities and changes your computer system.
When people purchase software, they don't actually own the software, but rather are
licensed to use the software on a computer. This is called a single-user license. A
single-user
license
permits you to install the software on one computer, or sometimes two computers,
used by one person. A single-user license does not allow you to copy and share the software
with others. Table 4.10 describes different types of software licenses. Licenses that accom-
modate multiple users are usually provided at a discounted price.
single-user license
A software license that permits only
one person to use the software, typ-
ically on only one computer.
Table 4.10
License
Description
Software Licenses
Single-user license
Permits you to install the software on one computer, or
sometimes two computers, used by one person.
Multiuser license
Specifies the number of users allowed to use the
software, and can be installed on each user's computer.
For example, a 20-user license can be installed on 20
computers for 20 users.
Concurrent-user license
Designed for network-distributed software, this
license allows any number of users to use the software,
but only a specific number of users to use it at the
same time.
Site license
Permits the software to be used anywhere on a
particular site, such as a college campus, by everyone
on the site.
Open-Source Software
Open-source software
is freely available to anyone in a form that can be easily modified. The
Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to the development and
promotion of open-source software (see the OSI Web site at
www.opensource.org
for more
information on the group's efforts). Users can download the source code and build the soft-
ware themselves, or the software developers can make executable versions available along with
the source. Open-source software development is a collaborative process—developers around
the world use the Internet to keep in close contact via e-mail and to download and submit
new software. Major software changes can occur in days rather than weeks or months. Many
open-source software packages are widely used, including the Linux OS; Free BSD, another
OS; Apache, a popular Web server; Sendmail, a program that delivers e-mail for most systems
on the Internet; and Perl, a programming language used to develop Internet application
software. See Table 4.11 for some examples of open-source software.
Why would an organization run its business using software that's free? Can something
that's given away over the Internet be stable or reliable or sufficiently supported to place at
the core of a company's day-to-day operations? The answer is surprising—many believe that
open-source software is often
more
reliable and secure than commercial software. How can
this be? First, by making a program's source code readily available, users can fix any problems
they discover. A fix is often available within hours of the problem's discovery. Second, with
the source code for a program accessible to thousands of people, the chances of a bug being
discovered and fixed before it does any damage are much greater than with traditional soft-
ware packages. Of course, open-source software is usually much less expensive than traditional
software that is purchased from a software vendor. The auditor of one state estimated that
the cost savings using open-source software could be as high as $10 million compared to
developing software internally, when legal and project delays are included. Some companies
are also starting to reveal their source code, including IBM, Microsoft, and others.
open-source software
Software that is freely available to
anyone in a form that can be easily
modified.
