Changes to NI's Licensing Policies

[TamraK]

Over the past few months there have been many postings about software activation and NI’s licensing policies. To better understand the specific use cases of individual developers, we created an email account and asked for your input. First, I want to thank each of you that took the time to help us better understand your uses of LabVIEW. We reviewed each response carefully so that we might craft a more appropriate end-user license agreement.

Second, I want to apologize for the delay in getting a response out to you, but as many of you know, it’s sometimes hard to work with the lawyers! But alas, we have made significant headway, and I wanted to pass on the good news to you.

Below is a brief summary of the changes that we will be making in the upcoming versions of our software releases. Note that this posting is not intended to outline every detail of the agreement, but rather to give you a simplified response to address the major concerns that were raised. Within the next month, we will have a more comprehensive document posted on our website outlining more specifics about the change.

Software End User License Agreement

· Non-compete Language - We will be modifying the text in the end-user license agreement (EULA) to remove the language prohibiting the usage of NI software to create software that competes with NI.

· Usage Rights – We will be modifying our EULA to grant the usage of our development software to a named-user, rather than a computer. The example (heard loudly from your feedback) is that you would like to be able to own one licensed version of a LabVIEW development system and install it on an your office laptop and on a lab/test machine without legally needing to uninstall it as you move between computers. With the new license agreement, each named-user will be allowed to install their development system on up to three work computers, provided that they are the sole user of the software and that the development system is launched on only one computer at a time. In addition, if multiple developers are sharing the same computer, NI will make provisions in the license agreement to accommodate this. We believe that this will address most, if not all, of the use cases that were sent to us. Home use is not affected by this change (you are still free to neglect all of those household chores and use LabVIEW while watching Letterman)!

Because these changes require a change to the language in the software license agreement embedded in the current installer, they will take effect with subsequent releases of our software.

Improved LabVIEW Debug License

Debug licenses will continue to be tied to an individual computer (computer-based). However, based on the use cases that you provided, we will make two significant changes. The Debug License will contain complete Professional Development System capabilities so that you can make modifications and rebuild your executable. In addition, using the new activation technology, we will provide an additional feature to enable you to lock the development environment for code protection purposes.

NI-VISA Distribution Restrictions

We will greatly reduce the restrictions on the distribution of applications that use NI-VISA. You may distribute the NI-VISA run-time engine with any NI hardware, any executables created with an NI application environment, and with any LabVIEW VIs. There will be no limit on the maximum number you can distribute. This change is effective immediately.

Just as we have always prioritized feature development based on the feedback and input from our loyal users, we also value your feedback on these topics, and have made every attempt to address the issues raised.

If you have any questions or concerns, we would once again ask that you please send any comments to license.management@ni.com so that we can respond to your needs efficiently.

Thank you for your continued commitment to NI and LabVIEW, and for your patience as we’ve worked through these issues.

Sincerely,

Tamra Kerns
Director, Software Product Strategy

David Gardner
Director, LabVIEW R&D

[tbob]

Where can we get details on what to do during installation and how to activate the license when using a different computer? Is this new policy going into effect with Labview 8, replacing the activation code method?

[TamraK]

---

@tbob wrote:
Where can we get details on what to do during installation and how to activate the license when using a different computer? Is this new policy going into effect with Labview 8, replacing the activation code method?

---

These licensing policy changes will take place in all new versions of NI software. Thus, you will see this with the next revision of LabVIEW (and of course there will be detailed installation instructions that ship with it.) But I will tell you now that you'll simply go through a simple activation process on each computer on which you install the software. It will be just like the process that you go through now if you have installed LabWindows/CVI, TestStand, Motion Assistant, or any other NI software product that currently has license activation implemented. I hope this helps.

[Dave_Thomson]

As I've already said on other forum's, I'm impressed with this example of how NI resonded to its customer's concerns. These licensing changes are substantial and welcome. They address some of the most important issues that have been raised in this regard in the LabVIEW community during the last few months. Thanks!
A lot of the licensing discussion started when people found out that activation would be required in LV 8. Although the licensing changes are dramatic, it sounds like activation is proceding as planned. That still has me a bit concerned, especially in regards to autonomous instruments and long-term monitoring applications. The activation process sounds pretty flexible and benign, but just the fact that there is code in there that could potentially "turn off" your LabVIEW environment is disconcerting. I'd be interested in hearing what other people think, both in regards to activation as well as the licensing changes.

Regards,
Dave

[tbob]

My concern with Labview and activation is the same as a lot of others. I develop at my desk, then debug and prove-in at the test station. I need the LV Development environment at both places, but I only use one at a time. Therefore, I should have to buy only one license. The new solution takes care of this, great job by NI. As far as customer support, NI is number 1.
I would like to share a nightmare that happened to me with TestStand 3 and activation codes. I once worked on a system that involved a Bluetooth device on the tester. The Bluetooth device has a physical address just like a NIC card. The TestStand activation code is derived from the NIC physical address. For some reason, the physical address of the Bluetooth device instead of the NIC device was being used to obtain the activation code. Every now and then, the Bluetooth device driver would lock up. Rebooting didn't help. Re-installing the driver was the only way to regain functionality. However, re-installing the driver caused the physical address to change. Every time this happened, I would have to resubmit the computer ID to get a new activation code to run TestStand. I had four systems that had this problem. The first time it happened put me through a terrible experience trying to figure out what happened and why. It wasn't so bad afterwards, but it sure was a pain having to get antoher activation code for each system, and having to reactivate TestStand on each tester. That experience made me very anti activation code. Hopefully, this new method will work better.

[Albert.Geven]

Thanks Tamra and all other (ex)technicians in NI's staff

You did it again, I'm glad with all the licensing changes.

One remark Dave on your concern about unusual systems "My concerns are mostly related to supporting autonomous instruments in unusual field situations and long-term monitoring programs."

Just an idea: Maybe it is possible to bind a special license that removes the activated licensing from LabVIEW to that special computers hardware. Ok, when this computer needs to change that hardware (e.g. disk or processor), the user has a problem but he has a problem anyhow because that hardware needs upgrading.


Albert

[josborne]

I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to NI-VISA run-time licenses.  I understand you have removed a lot of the restrictions on distributing applications that us NI-VISA run-time.  But I have a quick question:

If I purchase the LV Base Edition, it comes with NI-VISA.

If I also purchase the Application Builder, can I build application using NI-VISA and distribute them freely?

- John

[josborne]

Sorry.  Nevermind.  Answered my own question here:

http://www.ni.com/visa/license.htm

- John