About the product package...

Topic: About the product package... (Read 9579 times) previous topic - next topic

About the product package...

2002-10-25 09:55 pm

What I would like to know is, if I order a Noteworthy package and I install it on my current Windows XP, then afterward change my Operating System to Windows ME or a different one, can I still install from the cd?

The other question I have is a bit farfetched but I think it may happen in the near future seeing as how long 1.75 has been out:
If I upgrade it via the download upgrade wizard with XP, and later change it to ME (which then I suspect it won't work due to the differences of the OSes), will I still be able to download my copy of Noteworthy?

Last but not least, it's not really a question but... are you able to download a second full copy of Noteworthy? (Say I want it for another computer with the same OS offline)

Thanks for your time.

Re: About the product package...

Reply #1 – 2002-10-25 10:31 pm

I cannot answer your question about a second copy, because that's a NWC question and I'm just a user. But I can tell you that I ran NWC1.75 on my Windows computer until the computer died, then bought a new machine running Windows XP, and NWC 1.75 also runs the same.

When I first got NWC, it was pre-1.75 version, and since then I have always updated directly from the Internet without CD (most recently, today). This may not be the best method for all users, and may not pertain in the future.

Some users, who have upgraded the OS from Windows 98-category to XP on the same system, have reported oddities. But in each case, the oddity was due to the need for a driver update (not a NWC issue), often of the video driver.

Hope that helps.

Re: About the product package...

Reply #2 – 2002-10-26 01:30 am

From the NWC Help.........

"As a licensed user of NoteWorthy Composer , you are entitled to install NoteWorthy Composer on one machine and enjoy unrestricted use of its capabilities. You may also install NoteWorthy Composer on a second machine provided that it will never be in simultaneous use on more than one machine."

Re: About the product package...

Reply #3 – 2002-10-26 06:11 am

NWC ran fine in WindowsME, which I hated and got rid of. I went back to Windows98, and NWC runs fine there too as well.

Re: About the product package...

Reply #4 – 2002-10-26 12:45 pm

I think Barry's post pretty much explains the NWC V1 license. You can legally install on two computers, provided you comply with the terms of the license (no simultaneous use).

Re: About the product package...

Reply #5 – 2002-10-26 01:25 pm

So, if I'm working with NWC in my den, and my son turns on his computer in his room and starts using NWC, we're in violation of the terms of the license?

Re: About the product package...

Reply #6 – 2002-10-26 04:03 pm

Well, I don't work for NWC, but... it seems to me that if you are using NWC on one computer, and your son is simultaneously using it on another, then you need 2 licenses. That's the way most software works, to my knowledge. The "second computer" thing is really for the benefit of persons who alterate between home and office, or use a laptop while traveling.

If one of you is merely playing the music, rather than editing or composing, you can use the free NWC player.

Re: About the product package...

Reply #7 – 2002-10-26 11:46 pm

So, even if I use it up until 3pm and he doesn't use it until after 3pm, that's still considered simultaneous? I assumed that was sequential (not at the same time). Am I going to have to uninstall it from my son's computer?

Re: About the product package...

Reply #8 – 2002-10-27 12:03 am

Again, I don't work for NWC. But I did just re-read the license.

It is not clear to me whether it is a "personal license" which would allow one human being to use the software, yet forbid use by another human being even if using the same computer at a different time. An example of a personal license is an automobile driver's license. The other possibility is that it is a single-machine license, with backup option. That would be comparable to automobile vehicle registration (except for the backup).

Some software vendors go to great lengths to clarify the difference, for those of use wose lives have enought time to read the fine print. For example (don't quote me, I am working from unreliable memory) the license for Adobe Acrobat, full product, is a single machine license. In a business, anyone can physically step up to that machine, one at a time, and use the software. But it cannot be shuffled around from machine to machine via file sharing, even if there is only one user at a time. Nor can someone "virtually use" the software by electronically sending files for processing by a single real user, as a service.

Another program has a personal license. Even if the software is installed one machine, if there are five users, there must be five licenses, even if only one uses the software at a time. The reason is that the created files incorporate a lot of proprietary information. Each user is paying for the privilege of including that information in the finished work that will bear his or her name.

Re: About the product package...

Reply #9 – 2002-10-27 12:42 am

I don't know what you are planning to do, but for normal use loading on two systems and only using one at a time seems like a reasonable use as allowed by the licence.

When I taught a short course in Computer Music several years ago I purchased a multi-workstation licence from NWC so that the college could legally load up to 10 machines with the software.

What's your plan?

Re: About the product package...

Reply #10 – 2002-10-27 06:32 pm

uh-oh:

I suspect that the good people at NWC would rather not answer your question; I wouldn't in their position. I further suspect they're not going to prosecute you even with your admission, which is technically outside the rules. What they don't want you to do is to buy the program once and let your friends load it from your licensed
copy, but they do agree you can load on two of your own computers for your own use. It's not enforceable, but the NWC people have earned the income.

If your son has his own computer and uses the program, he should have his own license; if you have two and he occasionally uses one of yours... it's probably within, or at least close to, the spirit of the agreement.

That's just my own call on the ethical situation; I wouldn't be prepared to argue it legally.

Re: About the product package...

Reply #11 – 2002-10-27 09:57 pm

What's your plan?
As mentioned in Reply 7, I use it while he's at school, and he uses it when he comes home (only occasionally, mind you).
I guess I just don't know what the word "simultaneous" means.
Looks like the worms are tightly packed into this can, but not for long...

Re: About the product package...

Reply #12 – 2002-10-28 01:31 am

Well, I think the words "not used at the same time" are fairly clear. If Uh-Oh stops using the program on machine A at 3 pm and the kid starts using it, on machine A OR on machine B, at 3 pm, there's no problem. If you want to have the machine in use on two machines at the same time, you need two licences. Perhaps Eric might consider some sort of network licencing, where the second licence would be cheaper? I don't imagine there are too many people who would need it though. Unlike a word processor in a place of business, I can't imagine too many times there would be a bunch of people networking to use this program.

Re: About the product package...

Reply #13 – 2002-10-28 02:13 am

Exactly. The "simultaneous use" means exactly that. If two computers in your house have NWC installed, but NWC is never used at the same time on both, then you are in conformance with the terms of the license. Your situation is certainly within the terms of the license. If your son moves out and takes a copy of NWC with him, then this goes beyond the scope of the license, and violates both the terms and spirit of the license.

Re: About the product package...

Reply #14 – 2002-10-28 02:14 am

Thanks for your replies. Most of it's been cleared up for me, and the rest I think can be cleared up by my friend (who has NWC but I haven't been able to get in touch with until now). I think I'll still wait for the next version of Noteworthy to come out until I buy it, though, because I don't want to install it and soon after reinstall it. Again, thank you

Re: About the product package...

Reply #15 – 2002-10-28 03:23 am

Hi, SA/ uh-oh,

There isn't much to add about Noteworthy Support's clarification, but I'd like to encourage you to go ahead and purchase the license now, or whenever you can afford it. NoteWorthy Composer has been under continuous development since its inception, and Version 1 updates have always been free. Also, there has never been a documented issue with problems installing/ un-installing, except perhaps on unstable machines with other (unrelated) problems. Even in this case, NWC Support has been incredibly supportive both here on the forum, and on the newsgroup, to help resolve the issue - which almost always was a driver or other problem external to NWC.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to use this software waiting for a "final" version.

Re: About the product package...

Reply #16 – 2002-10-28 11:38 pm

Oh dear, I thought. I've got it installed on four machines (possibly more if you count old 1.3 installations on unused machines) but I never use more than one simultaneously, so I can't see why this should be a problem. Except it doesn't conform with the license terms. So am I being a bad boy?

Well actually not. I bought a new license (ergo the proud owner of two) on the grounds that the original license had my credit card name and that's what appeared in the <name> bit and wasn't what I wanted. The new version shipped on the CD promptly disabled replacing <name> with my name so I was not best pleased, but at least it makes me legal.

So two questions: Is it too terrible to install NWC on your Home, Laptop and Work computers?

and: please can we have the substitution for <name> working again, or at least change the blank template so that it doesn't appear?

Peter

PS The spell checker doesn't like CD

PPS The spell checker doesn't like PS!

Re: About the product package...

Reply #17 – 2002-10-28 11:47 pm

Whew! Thanks, Eric!
If your son moves out and takes a copy of NWC with him,
When he moves out (he's only 11, so that won't be for a while), He'll get his own copy with his own license in his own name.

Re: About the product package...

Reply #18 – 2002-11-01 07:32 pm

Easiest way to see this is the book analogy. If your son wants to read the same book you are, at the same time, he'd need to purchase his own copy. Same goes for computer programs.

What works against software designers is that you can install the same program on two machines, unlike a book. Can't just snap your fingers and have an extra copy magically appear.

So that's why the license asks you not to use it on two machines at once. Of course, they have no way of enforcing that and to some extent, that's the whole debate of software piracy right there; a can of worms better left unopened.

Re: About the product package...

Reply #19 – 2002-11-01 08:09 pm

That was the beauty of installation files being on floppy disks in the old days, you could arrange it so that when you installed the program it wrote back a small file to the disk to knobble it for future installations.

Took me a number of years to work out how to re-install AutoCAD 12 (DOS) on my work machine, each time it told me that my disk was read only, or something. Suddenly noticed a 1kB file with the same date as the original installation.........deleted it and all was well.

(Thinks....NWC is still small enough to fit on a floppy - but then you couldn't install it on one of the new type laptops which don't have floppy drives - whatever next? - no screen (now that would reduce the price a bit) - and no keyboard either - a very expensive music CD player!)