I’ve recently been informed of the discussions about the NI licensing policies on info-LabVIEW and wanted to provide some insight and clarification.
NI has implemented license activation in many of our software products and plans to add license activation to our other major application software products. It seems that there have been misperceptions about how and why we are implementing this technology. It is also important to understand that there are differences between the underlying activation software mechanisms and the legal license agreement specifying appropriate use of our software.
Benefits to Activation
While I understand the skepticism, licensed activation will actually provide benefits to many LabVIEW users, as well as to NI. Let me provide you with a few examples.
With licensed activation, it will be possible for us to ship on a single CD an Evaluation Version, Student Edition, Base Package, Full Development System, Professional Development System, Debug Deployment License, and Application Builder. Of course NI will benefit from these streamlined activation mechanisms, as it means that we can spend less time producing and verifying countless different CDs and instead focus on delivering additional features and functionality to you. Today we actually produce, verify, re-verify, and stock more than 30 different variants of LabVIEW. We want to reduce the amount of time and effort it takes us to actually put out a release. This will also make it easier for us to produce more periodic maintenance updates, something which many of you have also requested.
But this alone did not drive our decision to implement licensed activation in our products. For years we have heard our user community complain that it is difficult to receive all the software they need at the same time, and in an easy-to-install manner. As an example, as a LabVIEW developer is writing a LabVIEW application, he often realizes that he needs a LabVIEW add-on to complete his project. This can cause a delay of several days while he purchases it and waits for it to arrive. And, in some of those situations, of course, a new version of LabVIEW has since started shipping, leading to further complications. We’ve seen this happen, not only with the Real Time Module and Application Builder, but also with numerous other add-on Modules and Toolsets. Licensed activation will mean that all this software can be installed on your machine, and with a simple activation, you can begin using the software in minutes. In the future, you’ll have the added benefit of being able to purchase and install software from the web immediately. In addition, by having all software install in an Evaluation Mode, you can more easily share your CD with colleagues to try out LabVIEW without worrying that the software is being used illegally.
Clarification on the Technology
There seems to be some confusion about exactly how the licensed activation tools work. When the software is installed, it will run in a fully-functional evaluation mode for 7 days if not activated. Thus, you need never worry about getting caught in a situation where you cannot activate your software at midnight to get your system running again. To activate your software, we provide numerous 24-hour a day mechanisms, including the web, email, phone, fax, etc. (see ni.com\license for details). We also understand that you may need to activate again because you have bought a new machine. That is why we allow you to activate multiple times, without forcing you to uninstall first.
Use Policies of Our Software
As previously stated, the introduction of this license activation mechanism did not drive changes in our end-user license agreement in any way. Our license agreement has been machine-based for many years. What became apparent to me in the email thread was that this has been misunderstood and has caused inconvenience to some of you.
Thus, I’d like to thank each of you who took the time to provide constructive feedback by outlining your use scenarios. This is the best possible way for us to understand your concerns. We value your feedback and take it seriously. It is not our intention to put roadblocks in place to reduce your productivity.
To that end, we have already started evaluating options for changes in our licensing agreement and supporting technologies to better address your needs. This includes evaluating a user-based license solution. Please send any use cases or feedback that you have on the topic to license.management@ni.com. (It will be functional by Noon Dec 20.) We are committed to your continued success with our products, and will not let licensing agreements be a hindrance.
Thanks for your feedback, and we’ll work with you to find an acceptable solution.
David Gardner
Director, LabVIEW R&D
National Instruments
