Site license
{{Short description|Software licensing for groups of users}}
{{use American English|date=November 2020}}
A site license{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014889208-Site-licenses
|title=Site licenses}} is a type of software license that allows the user to install a software package in several computers simultaneously, such as at a particular site (facility) or across a corporation.{{cite book
|author=Michael Rustad |title=Software Licensing: Principles and Practical Strategies
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sc9MAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 |accessdate=16 February 2014
|date=23 December 2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-537619-7 |page=75}} Depending on the amount of fees paid, the license may be unlimited{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |accessdate=November 18, 2020
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/23/technology/librarygrammar-tutors-at-high-end-fancy-design.html
|title=Library/Grammar Tutors: At High End, Fancy Design
|author=Steven R. Knowlton |date=July 23, 1998}} or may limit simultaneous access to a certain number of users. The latter is called a concurrent{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/21/business/networking-what-license-for-a-program.html
|title=Networking; What License for a Program?
|author=Stephen C. Miller |date=June 21, 1992}} site license.{{cite book
|author1=Richard Raysman |author2=Edward A. Pisacreta |author3=Kenneth A. Adler |author4=Seth H. Ostrow
|title=Intellectual property licensing: forms and analysis
|year=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OCGsutgMdPIC&pg=SA10-PA10|accessdate=16 February 2014
|publisher=Law Journal Press |isbn=978-1-58852-086-9 |page=10}}{{cite news
|newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/26/business/big-shift-in-selling-software.html
|title=Big Shift in Selling Software
|author=Andrew Pollack |date=September 26, 1985 |accessdate=November 18, 2020}}
Overview
The term "site" may not necessarily refer to a physical site or geographic location. It is simply defines a limitation on the user's access rights. The usage of the term dates back to 1950s, when mainframes limited to a specific sites were being used. Nowadays, these types of licenses are rare, but still used in some sectors like manufacturing. Vendors may insert clauses that would allow representatives to visit the site and verify that the software usage conforms to the license.{{cite book
|author1=Gene K. Landy |author2=Amy J. Mastrobattista
|title=The IT / Digital Legal Companion: A Comprehensive Business Guide to Software, IT, Internet, Media and IP Law
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8pspypWoOmIC&pg=PA326
|accessdate=16 February 2014 |date=13 August 2008 |publisher=Syngress
|isbn=978-0-08-055882-0 |page=326}}
Site licenses are sometimes called multiseat licenses in implied distinction from individual (single-seat) licenses; this usage parallels the terminology of multiseat configurations for mainframes, with the same figurative analogy of multiple workers each seated in front of an instance (one terminal or one copy of the application). The cost of the license can then be analyzed in terms of cost per installed seat, with the idea being that such cost must be lower if site licensing is to be advantageous over individual licensing.
Another aspect, aside from cost, is convenience. Some software vendors had one-floppy per computer restrictions, which the New York Times described as "the equivalent of a book publisher insisting that no two people could use the same book, even at different times." A different inconvenience was copy protection, which was deprecated as crippleware.{{cite news
|newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/technology/14iht-digi15.4195994.html
|title=News Analysis: Copy protection cheats music consumers
|date=January 14, 2007}}
Customization
Customizations, subset, restricted and specialized licensing arrangements are among those arrangements that are beyond individual single-copy licenses. One such pricing, for a customized "site licensing" refers to deals made by large institutions, like universities, with software firms so that affiliated persons can buy the software at discounted prices.{{cite web
|title=Site Licenses
|url=http://www.colorado.edu/oit/software-hardware/site-licenses
|publisher=University of Colorado |accessdate=16 February 2014}} Web-only is another customization, particularly when the alternative is paper-based.{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015883327-Corporate-digital-subscriptions
|title=Corporate digital subscriptions}}