[hackerspaces] Software Licensing

[john arclight]

I'm with you here.  If they want CS3 badly enough, they can buy a valid
license or run it on their personal laptop.  You're already out thousands of
$$$ per month to keep a roof over everything and the lights on.  You also
have a greater responsibility to keep the organization out of trouble.
Providing warez is not part of your charter.

If there's interest, maybe you can suggest that those folks work on getting
a grant proposal written or educational licensing. I know that the concept
of "delayed gratification" will be new to some users, but this could be a
good way to get people motivated.

Arclight
23b Shop
http://shop.23b.org

On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 10:38 AM, tetsu yatsu <tetsuharu at gmail.com> wrote:

> Members and non-members are asking that we get proprietary software on our
> systems, like Adobe CS3, Windows XP, and OSX.  I've actually been
> exclusively using open-source software the past few years, and didn't really
> consider that someone would want to run these things.
>
> Naturally, they feel that being a 'hacker'space, we have no concept of
> intellectual property and have no problems stealing software and installing
> pirated, potentially infected software on our lab computers.  But, being a
> nonprofit, we are going to get audited at some point, and I wouldn't want a
> bunch of bootleg installs of Windows to ruin our message.
>
> Likewise, a lot of people try to offer us pirated software and MSDN access.
> (Is it legal to share MSDN access? Shouldn't we just get our own MSDN
> account?)
>
> So far, I'm considering a policy where we only install software we have
> valid licenses for on lab computers, hopefully with a non-profit discount,
> but members may run whatever they want on their own machines they bring in
> since the space is not liable.
>
>
>
> I know some of you are very supportive of changes in intellectual property
> laws, but those of us following the laws until then, any advice?
>
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>
>
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