Network licences

[Kendo Nagasaki]

Does anyone know if its possible to get a network licence for the following programs:

- Microsoft Project

- Adobe Photoshop

- Adobe Acrobat Professional

What i'm looking for is to obtain 1 network licence for Microsoft Project, so that everyone in the office can share it - obviously only one user at a time can access it.

The same would apply for Adobe Photoshop & Acrobat, just with more licences, so more people can access the programs at once.

We already have something similar with 13 Architectural Desktop licences, with the program installed locally and the licences stored on the server.

Also, how does the floating licence work - ie, how can someone access the licence (program) from home on their laptop?

Thanks

 

[Madmrcopper]

Hi Kendo Nagasaki,

I might be able to help you on this too. Legally you cant just buy one licences of project and share. You would need to look into one of the licence agreement microsoft do or buy several oem/retail copies. You could but just one but i wouldnt recomend it in a corperate environment.

With the adobe software its the same, also i know the software is locked to machine and phones home so can't buy just one. I am envolved in a big project here to upgrade and extend our number of liceneces to become legal. Got a meeting with adobe on the 31st about seeing acrobat elements.

I would suggest you look at getting photoshop elements if its just for cad users. That is what we are doing here. And then just getting full creative for any high graphics stuff. The caddies dont really need that full software and cost a fraction less.

Now what do you want to do with acrobat? we currently use Jaws just so the users can print to pdf. Is that all you need? If you are like us and only need to do mark ups look at acrobat elements (you need to buy 100 licences and be in one of there licence agreements). Or maybe a 3rd party. We looked at full acrobat but it was too expensive and did more than we actually need.

None of these run of a server as i know of. We are looking at a corp key so we can just install as many as we want and when we want without having to phone adobe or microsoft everytime.

Hope this helps!

 

[stoofa]

None of the Microsoft license models allows for floating licenses - which is in effect what you are after.
A single license, as many installations as you like but only one user at any one time can use the software.
All MS Software is done on a "Per Installation" basis - so it is one copy per machine I'm afraid.

Actually I tell a small lie - we run Microsoft Great Plains and that does allow us to install GP on any number of machines, however the server has a strict 15 user policy in place and as soon as 15 people are logged in nobody else can.
This is the only MS product I'm aware of that uses that model of licensing.

It might be worth seeing if Project Central is a product that maybe of some use to you.
That way you could do things without the need to have Project on each workstation.
MS Project is actually one of MS's most expensive product, we pay more for a Project License than we do for an MS Office one.

Adobe are the same I'm afraid - everything is done on a perinstallation basis.
The products you've mentioned are available in license packs of 5+
So if you want 1-4 copies then you will have to go the retail route.
The Acrobat Elements package is very useful however only available in license format.
It used to be a minimum purchase of 1000 licenses, however I believe that has been reduced to 100 just recently.
Photoshop Elements is the same as "Big Boys" Photoshop.
It's a lot cheaper but minimum of 5 before licensing kicks in.

 

[bitslice]

(don't take this as me knowing anything about it...)

but what about using MS Terminal server, and having the apps installed on the server ?

.

 

[stoofa]

Alas no - Microsoft cover that in their T&C's etc.
It's a shame of course as a TS CAL at £60 is a lot less than a Project License at £330.
But then again MS would not be king of the licensing models if they allowed an over-sight like that

 

[bitslice]

Alas no - Microsoft cover that in their T&C's etc.

ah, thanks for the correction stoofa

We did have MS Project 5 (?) on the server once and limited access by file permissions, but it got a bit annoying to maintain.

I had a phone conversation with some MS licencing bod about it,
it started off with him saying it wasn't legal, and it ending up with him saying it was.

I've been confused ever since.

.

 

[stoofa]

ah, thanks for the correction stoofa

We did have MS Project 5 (?) on the server once and limited access by file permissions, but it got a bit annoying to maintain.

I had a phone conversation with some MS licencing bod about it,
it started off with him saying it wasn't legal, and it ending up with him saying it was.

I've been confused ever since.

.

LOL
As I mentioned above there is a product called "Project Central" - well there always used to be.
You would by a single license for Project Central and then others could log into that via a web interface and then all you needed was Project Central CAL's which were a lot less than full Project licenses.
I've got this feeling though that in the MS world things are moving towards "MS Share Point Portals" and Project may well become a product of the past.

 

[Baz]

Project Server