Why and what license is needed?



    I want to talk about what types of licenses Intel offers for its software, what difficulties arise with them, and express my personal opinion on this matter.

    The set of rules by which software can be used is compiled in one document called the End User License Agreement for the Intel Software Development Products , abbreviated EULA, and is available for review here. As is customary in the legal environment, everything is written there in such a way as to confuse readers who are uninitiated in the specifics of terminology as much as possible. So the general advice for those who need accurate answers to very specific licensing questions is to contact lawyers. I want to briefly describe the licensing model that Intel has been using for quite some time for its “Software Development Products”. These include, in particular, compilers, VTune profiler, code validation tools, libraries, and many other software designed to facilitate the work of developers.

    Unlike the legal language, I will try to formulate all the terms very clearly and clearly, although a lot of things are mixed here. So, the model is that the user, sooner or later, must acquire at least one commercial license for the product. After that, he will be able to use this product indefinitely, that is, Intel has no restrictions on the time of use. Immediately for example. Suppose we need a compiler for commercial use, and we have acquired a license (for now I will not deliberately say which one). The license corresponds to a unique serial number that looks like a set of characters (letters and numbers), as follows: XXXX-XXXXXXXX. Formally, it is precisely for them that blood money is paid.

    Classically, the license gives the right to download the latest version of the installation package from the Registration Center website, and use it until you get bored. But enjoy commercial support on the Premier Support websiteYou can only 1 year (the usual license period), and from the time of purchase. An interesting fact, in view of the fact that before the “clock was ticking” from the moment of registration of the license. So, on 1.1.2014 we bought a license and until 1.1.2015 we can enjoy all the amenities of support - “ask smart questions, get smart answers to them”. In addition, we can download the latest product updates. A new update was released on the compiler, and you immediately installed it. But all this until 1.1.2015. Then we can safely do nothing, and use until the end of time the latest version available before 1.1.2015, or take care of the issue of renewing the license, and this can be done both before 1.1.2015 and after (but no later than a year). If we decide to renew the license earlier than 2015, we will get a discount. A kind of stimulation does not drag out with this case. By the way

    So, they sort of figured out what the license gives us and how long it usually lasts.
    The following is a description of the types of licenses, who are not very interested, can safely skip and go to my personal thoughts about this.

    In license types, the whole assortment:

    Evaluation A
    license that gives free access to the product, and it does not have any functional restrictions. That is, everything works, as in the full, commercial version. One “but” is the duration of the action. This license allows you to safely try the product for up to 30 days. Then you will see a message, say from the compiler, that it would be nice to get another license as well.
    How does it all work? You go to Intel Software Evaluation Center, select the necessary software and get a license. It is worth noting that the link goes to your mail.
    I won’t talk about this in more detail, but I think that every savvy person, of whom in our great country (and not only), a sufficient number, understands all the pluses.

    Further, when you install the product, you can select several paths, one of them is to enter the received serial number and complete the installation process. For this method, you will need a network connection, because the installer will download a license file that matches your "serial", and it will be stored locally on your machine. Every time you call the compiler, this file will be checked. Thus, after 30 days, you will successfully complete the free use of the product, and "mature" to the next step - purchase a full license.

    Single-User
    One of the most common licenses. This is a commercial license (which gives the right to use the product for commercial purposes), "sharpened" for one developer.
    That is, it was bought for one person, he put the product on a home laptop, on a workstation, with his uncle and aunt - all this is allowed under this license. But only he can use it per unit of time. I came home - work, I came to work - work ... work everywhere!

    Noncommercial-use
    An interesting license that entitles true enthusiasts to use the products for free, but without any form of monetary compensation. Commercial use is prohibited. Well, it only affects products under Linux. You can find everything you need on this page .

    Pre-release
    She’s a Beta license. Like the Evaluation license, it is temporary. Usually, each product goes through beta testing before the official release; it is for it that Intel provides such licenses. As part of the beta program, we expect to receive valuable feedback from the developers about the product, and they, in turn, are other “goodies”, for example, discounts.

    Node-locked
    A very rare type of license now, I didn’t even want to say anything about it, but for the sake of order I’ll say a few words. The product can be installed on one machine, and a predetermined number of developers can use it. There is also the opportunity to purchase a time-limited license, but this is purely exotic. Honestly, I almost never met such licenses.

    Floating
    As well as Single license, one of the most common. Essentially, it gives you the ability to create a server configuration. You install a server that will distribute licenses, and any number of clients that will each time a product is called (for example, an attempt to compile) take one license from the server.
    It is clear that the MAC address and the host name on which the server will be launched, and the number of simultaneously working clients (in fact, licenses) are written in the license file itself.
    Let's say we purchased a Floating license for 5 seats (customers), let's say for the Parallel Studio XE toolkit. Configured the server, it is working and waiting for connections. The license will only work on the server registered in it, and this is important. On the client side, that is, where we directly have Parallel Studio XE or its components, it also prescribes where to “go” for the license. We wanted to run the compiler - a request to the server, checked if there was a license there. There is, all is well, we reduce the number of available licenses by 1 and allow compilation. At the same time, another developer can run the same compiler, profiler, or other component (there are 4 of them, you can read here, eg). But during its operation, the number of available licenses will also decrease by one. And so on, until we either “run into” the license limit, or someone does not finish the job and returns it back.

    The set of available products is explicitly written in the license file. Thus, one license can give access to the compiler, and to the profiler, and to individual functions that can be registered in the file. Actually, the entire license solution uses FLEXNet technology.

    By the way, it is interesting that the licenses are still divided according to where they are used. There are no restrictions on functionality.
    Of the most common - commercial, academic, student. Usually, academic licenses are granted to educational institutions, and with a very substantial discount. That is, the university can acquire an academic floating license, and use the server configuration. And yet ... you can buy licenses both for entire packages of tools (Parallel Studio XE, for example), and for individual components (compiler, profiler, and so on). It so happened that if necessary, at least two funds, it is more profitable to take the whole package.

    Uh ... everything seems to be with license types. Now on the issue, which, I think, is already obvious. All this is very difficult to explain quickly and without difficulties (by the way, I myself doubt that I succeeded) for people who want to purchase software. And how many questions arise? Now imagine what it means to configure the server and make the whole thing work, on different architectures with proxy servers? And if there are not one, but many licenses for different products, and yet another server should distribute them all?

    The list of problems is very impressive, you can just go to the license problems support page and forum . By the way, support on the forum is absolutely free for all products.

    So, for a long time thought has not left me, and it’s my personal, private opinion that there are too many wise people with licenses. Well, judge for yourself - Intel provides tools for developers of the software itself. If these developers are solid organizations creating serious software, then they are unlikely to try to play with the law, given the possible consequences. Wouldn't it be easier to cancel all these ingenious schemes, and just ask for money for support? For which, in fact, the majority pay. But there are "holes" for illegal use now, and I think many people know about them, or guess about them. But how many unnecessary problems with the installation and configuration of software would be resolved. Of course, this is a rhetorical question in some way, but for such a narrowly specialized toolkit, I think, it is worth thinking about it. What do you think?

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