Archive for the ‘Software’ Category

A software license agreement is either a manual or electronic memorandum of a contractual agreement between the producer of software and the end user, granting to the end user a software license to use the software legally. The user can be either a legal entity or an end user and sometimes the agreement is called the end user license agreement. This contract will clearly state all the parameters of the various permissions given to the end user. In case the software license agreement is between the software producer and a business or government undertaking some special clauses are included relevant to the agreement which are unique for the licensed software.

Very often, the agreement comes shrink wrapped with the product prior to installation of the software. If the user agrees to the terms and conditions, as stated in the agreement, he or she may continue with the installation and use of the software product or else he or she may refuse the product and thus not use the software. Mostly, users do not take the trouble of reading all the clauses of the software license agreement and just click on “Accept” and begin using the software anyway. This is because of the great depth of detail held within the license agreement. The enforceability of such agreements is open to debate, especially in the United States.

The copyright laws governing making backup copies of the purchased software allows the owner of the software to make copies for the intention of backup purposes only. However, there are various interpretations to this and a certain amount of ambiguity in this regard allows end users to make copies for purposes other than merely backing up their software.

The majority of the purchased software is liable to perform as per specifications but mostly the agreement disclaims any warranty and limits any damages to just the cost of the software. In addition, some agreements prohibit the use of any reverse engineering in order to protect their trade secrets.

In the world of computers, copyrighted software sold is of two types, namely open source/free software and closed source/proprietary software. It may be added that not all software is copyrighted. There is also one other type of software that is called “abandonware” software. This is a type of software that is not being sold or supported by its copyright holder. This means that though this software is still available in the market its support and development has ceased and that it is not actively being protected, represented or supported.

Using box wrapped software implies that once the wrapper has been opened the user is giving their assent to the software terms contained within. This type of agreement is termed as “click-wrap agreements”. The popularity of click-wrap agreements is increasing since it allows the user to read the terms and conditions prior to accepting them. It has also been found to be legally enforceable in the United States with courts generally upholding such contracts. A prime example of click-wrap agreements is Hotmail, the email program sold by MSN.

There is also a distinction between personal and commercial use of the software. Personal use implies that the software is being used in one’s personal capacity while commercial use implies that the software is being used to obtain commercial or monetary gain from use of the software.

Wade Anderson is a CPA and operates DigitalWorkTools.com

Click to view a Software License Agreement.

Author: Wade Anderson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera News

Many businesses, both small and large do not realize that software can be leased or financed. Although software financing is unique in some manner, in general it has many similarities to equipment leasing.

It is also proper to ensure that right finance firm is utilized, as many lenders are somewhat risk averse to financing this asset. However, many others are looking for business in this area!

Contrary to popular opinion software as an asset in many cases has more value that a depreciating hard asset. It has also been confusing for lenders when it comes to the registration of collateral under Canadian PPSA (PERSONAL PROPERTY SECURITY ACT) legislation.

In its broadest term the financing or leasing of software that can’t be transferred to another user. The business owner does also of course not own any development rights in the software. Software financing is treated as a financing mechanism, it is not a true lease per se.

Some additional key points around the technicality of software leasing/finance are as follows:

The right of a customer to use the software gives the company no right in the intellectual property surrounding the developers rights in the software code. The best example of this is when we look at our EXCEL spreadsheets that we use in finance and home matters. We use the software, but Microsoft of course owns it.

The problem in the past around the financing of software revolved around the fact that lenders did not know how to collateralize and register their security. Under current PPSA legislation intangibles and software can be collateralized. Therefore the software financing lender/lessor can be very confident that the software can be collateralized.

At the heart of the software financing issue is the true value of the software to the business owner. He runs his business on it, i.e CRM programs, office software, manufacturing software, etc. Software lease payments tend to be made since the asset is indispensable to the value and on going concern of the business. Unless companies are liquidated in total bankruptcy most lessors and finance firms recover fully on their software leasing – Source – Journal of Equipment Leasing In many business bankruptcies the software lessor or lender is treated as a secured creditor.

Also key to the software financing issue is that many software firms offer maintenance, support, and updates around their product. This enhances the lenders asset as it is used for longer lengths of time, and often constantly upgraded. Quite frankly it becomes less obsolete than computer hardware!

Many software lessors and lenders also finance the service and maintenance contracts associated with their customers software acqusition.

We do acknowledge in this article that it is more difficult to finance customized software although it is possible based on the overall credit strength of the borrower. Many customized software deals are done with only investment grade borrowers where credit risk is minimal. Many smaller ticket lessors and lenders however do now lease software. In general these transactions are full payout capital leases.

In summary, software lease financing is available and should be considered by every business owner in the same context as a capital equipment finance transaction. The computer hardware industry has grown with leasing, and the software industry is doing that also. The same considerations an owner gives to lease vs buy apply to a software finance acquisition.

Stan Prokop is founder of 7 Park Avenue Financial – http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com The company originates business financing for Canadian companies,specializing in working capital, cash flow, and asset based financing. In business 6 years the company has completed in excess of 45 Million $ of financing for companies of all size. For info on Canadian business financing and contact details see: http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com/toronto_ontario_equipment_financing.html

Author: Stan Prokop
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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What’s the single biggest cost you have as a Mainframe manager? Software licensing costs – the regular costs required to run software, and to get support if it breaks. This article gives ten ways to bring these costs down to earth.

Check you really need it.
Don’t laugh. This sounds obvious, but it’s only too easy for software that is no longer needed to slip through the cracks. For example, you may have some software that was originally needed for CICS applications that have since moved elsewhere.

You may also have software licensed for all z/OS images, but only used on one.

Check you really use it.
As your Mainframe workload changes over time, it’s only too easy for the use of a software product to quietly decline without Mainframe managers noticing. You may be paying thousands of dollars for a product that only a couple of people are actually using.

You need to regularly analyse the usage of your software, and schedule the removal of any software no longer needed.

Check you don’t have two products doing the same thing.
You may use all your software, but have two software products performing the same or similar function. You need to fully understanding your software inventory, and exactly how each product is used.

Investigate sub-capacity pricing.
Most software licensing charges are based on the size of each LPAR running that software – the MSU rating. You can find this value from the IBM website or a program to call IBM’s IWMQVS service.

A few years ago IBM introduced another option: Sub-Capacity Pricing. This is where your software licensing charges are based on your CPU usage, not on your LPAR size. So software running on a lesser-used LPAR will be cheaper. It also makes upgrades easier to justify as you don’t get hit by increased software charges with the larger processor.

IBM isn’t the only vendor offering Sub-Capacity Pricing. Other vendors such as BMC and CA are also jumping on the bandwagon.

Reorganise your LPARs.
Many sites now run at least one ‘capped’ LPAR, meaning that the CPU resources available to it are artificially capped using Workload Manager (WLM). Software that is charged on MSU rating is run in this capped LPAR, reducing costs.

Users of Sub-Capacity pricing may consider doing the opposite: consolidating LPARs. This reduces CPU consumption by reducing the overhead of running a z/OS image.

Investigate similar products.
Compare the price of competing products, and consider moving to cheaper ones. For example, SAS users may consider the SAS replacement product WPS by World Programming.

It’s true that in some cases moving to different products can be very difficult and expensive. However it isn’t necessarily so, and many vendors offer migration tools to ease this pain.

Tune your systems.
Tuning your systems reduces CPU usage (good for Sub-Capacity pricing users), and delays upgrades to larger processors.

Move off the Mainframe.
Mainframe CPU resources are expensive when compared with other platforms. So it may be worth considering migrating some of your workload. For example:

Software products such as Tachyon Assembler Workbench and Microfocus Mainframe Express allow you to perform Mainframe software development on Windows and UNIX platforms.
Some products such as Websphere Enterprise Service Bus and CICS Transaction Gateway daemon run on both z/OS and other platforms.

Some workloads may easily be moved to other platforms. SOA and related services now makes Mainframe services and data easier to access from other platforms.

Upgrade your Mainframe.
For the past couple of zSeries processor generations IBM has been providing a 10% MSU ‘discount’. In other words, a z10 processor will have an MSU rating that is around 10% lower than an equivalent z9 processor. This translates to software license cost savings.

Invest in Speciality Processors.
IBM now offers Speciality Processors such as the Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) and Application Assist Processor (zAAP). These special processors cannot do ‘normal’ work, but can be given specific work by normal Mainframe processors. This can improve the performance of Java applications and other subsystems such as DB2. But the interesting advantage is that the work done by these processors doesn’t count towards your CPU usage if you use Sub-Capacity Pricing.

Many new software products are also off-loading work onto these Speciality Processors, including software from BMC and CA.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that implementing any of these ten methods is a large project, and needs to be performed regularly. However you do have some tools to make this easier.

Usage Software. IBMs Tivoli License Compliance Manager (replacing Isogon SoftAudit for z/OS and Ubiquity Dorana) will automatically list all software installed, who uses it, and how often.
Security Software. Mainframe security software has facilities that can help you track software usage. For example, enabling RACF program control to log access to specific programs can tell you who is using a product, and how often.
IBM. IBM provide a free Sub-Capacity planning tool to help you plan for Sub Capacity licensing.
Software Vendors. Ask them for information about software products you already have, and alternatives they may have for your existing software.

Your Systems Programmer. You secret weapon in the fight against software licensing costs. Systems Programmers install and customise all your z/OS software, so they usually know what it does, and possibly who uses it. They can also setup monitoring to determine who is using which software and how often, and will be your scout when looking for alternative software products and freeware.

So there’s ten ways to reduce software licensing costs. Regularly committing time and resources to managing your software licenses will almost certainly pay big dividends to your Mainframe budget.

David Stephens is a System z Mainframe Technical Specialist with over 18 years experience. He is currently the Lead Systems Programmer with the Australian mainframe consulting company Longpela Expertise http://www.longpelaexpertise.com.au

Author: David Stephens
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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In the not to distance past, antivirus firewall software did not exist. You would have to purchase antivirus software, firewall software and spyware all separately. There was not an all in one package containing all three together in the same suite like there is today. Software manufacturers are now making software in combination packages that are a perfect fit for small business owners and home computer use too.

Antivirus Firewall Software comprises three parts. One is the antivirus portion that keeps viruses from attacking your system and can remove those already on your system. Another part of the system is the Firewall software that prevents any information from your computer or to your computer without your permission in the prescribed code written into the software. The third part of the software would be the Spyware Software to prevent and remove Spyware from your system.

Why do you need all this protection you ask? Antivirus Software is to prevent and remove viruses from your computer. Firewall software is to prevent hackers and hacking software from accessing your personal information like bank account numbers or your identity. Spyware software is to prevent and remove Spyware from your system. Spyware tracks your movement on the Internet for reasons that can be good or bad. The good is depositing cookies on your computer to recognize you when you revisit a site. Banks use this type of cookie to help keep other people from accessing your information for example. Some sites use cookies for advertising purposes. Some of these are harmless and some are not.

How does each of these work you ask? Antivirus Software scans all incoming data from email, Internet downloads and file sharing you may have with other people. Any good Antivirus program updates itself often to keep up with all the new known codes viruses are written with. Without keeping current the software can not know which codes to exclude. New viruses are written constantly in very large numbers. Virus codes can be very complex and creative but are written in code just like beneficial software. Keeping up to date is critical for good protection.

All computers talk to each other using data packets. This is where Firewall Software comes in. It is the job of the Firewall Software to monitor this data for corrupted or altered packets of info. It will not allow any data to enter your system if it notes any packets that are not written into the software to accept. The software can even pop up a box to ask if you want to accept this type of data if it is not recognized. Good Firewall Software is needed to keep your system safe.

The third part of this software suite is Antispyware Software. Spyware programs are not designed to crash your operating system but are designed to spy on all your activity on the Internet as well as files on your computer and gather that data for someone else’s benefit. Antispyware Software is to keep this software from attaching to your computer system and to remove any of this software already on your system. Spyware can cripple your system performance over time if it allowed on your system. I have seen computers with hundreds of spyware cookies on the system and the computer was so slow it was unusable. After the spyware was removed the computer operated at normal speed.

My advice is to purchase good Antivirus Firewall Software and keep it updated. With this type of software loaded on your system you can enjoy your computer for surfing the Internet and for file sharing with your friends or for business purposes.

Posted by LaZinnia Manley on December 08, 2009

Please visit Antivirus Firewall Software for more information. If you need this software Please go to Antivirus Firewall Software and follow the instructions.

Author: LaZinnia Manley
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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