SOFTWARE LICENSING

In today’s business environment it is unavoidable for managers to at some point encounter software technology and the various affects it has on their company regardless of the industry in which the organization operates. It is therefore important that managers understand the different types of software licensing restrictions that can be critical in keeping seemingly routine actions of daily business life in line with the legalities of the licensing agreement. To do this, managers need to be able to understand and know where their company stands in relation to the following topics: 1. What is software licensing? 2. What are the different types of software licensing? 3. What recent trends in software licensing are likely to affect my business? What is software licensing? Specifically, a software license is defined as “a type of proprietary or gratuitous license as well as a memorandum of contract between a producer and a user of computer software…that specifies the perimeters of the permission granted by the owner to the user ” (Wikipedia, 2005). Software Licensing basically consists of the permissions