Can anyone verify a rumor I heard?

[rustdogbrown]

I know this will sound like a stupid question, but here goes. If my company has installed solidworks on my computer at work can I install that software on my personal computer at home? Someone told me that solidworks allows this. It does not sound true. Can anyone elaborate?

Rustdogbrown

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Solid Edge has had this feature for a while. I am using it now with a Dongle for licence control. Someone at my VARs told me a about year or so ago that this was being "looked at" by SW, but have not heard anything since.

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

What happens if you get scared half to death twice?

 

[oharag]

Yes. This has always been the case with Solidworks since their initial release SW 95. SW feels that as long as just one seat license of Solidworks is running at one time you can install it multiple times (ie. at work and home). We wanted to install a licensed seat of SW at a previous company on a computer in a separate room to use for CAD reviews. Our VAR mentioned that he didn't see this as being a problem as long as that seat was being used simultaneouly in a different location.

oharag

 

[rustdogbrown]

How can convince my employer, which essentially means the IT guy, that this is legal? Is there any documentation to support the installation of one seat on multiple computers?

Rustdogbrown

 

[macPT]

I think that this is a general rule for software. You can install it in several computers, as long you can prove that you only use simultaneously the max. number of licenses you have. This is easy to prove when you have a dongle. Not so easy when you have a SN or key. But some softawre have licences that are locked to a computer (licences dependent on a hardware SN or computer's name). In this case contact the VAR or software company, and maybe they unlock the license to another computer as long your company makes a declaration for it's correct use.

Regards

 

[mncad]

If you read the license agreement under the "About Solidworks" in the help menu it will explain all of that. It basically says that you can install the software in as many places as you want (say 10) as long as you only use the number of licenses that you have (say 5) at any one time.

mncad

 

[bhart]

Help --> About SolidWorks --> License Agreement -->

Article 1.A (near bottom of paragraph)

" If the Software is permanently installed on the hard disk or other storage device of a computer (other than a network server) and one person uses that computer more than 80% of the time it is in use, then that person may also use the Software on a portable or home computer while the original copy is not in use [not applicable to COSMOS products]. You will keep accurate and up-to-date records of the numbers and locations of all copies of the Software, will supervise and control the use of the Software in accordance with the terms of this Agreement and will provide copies of such records to SolidWorks upon reasonable request."

This is what MY license agreement says, I'm not sure if it is the same for everybody. It also answers the questions about installing the same license on multiple computers.

 

[PaulnKY]

my license says,

"If you have paid the license fee for a single user license, this Agreement permits you to use one copy of the Software on any single computer, provided that the Software is in use on only one computer at any time. If you have paid the license fees for multiple licenses of the Software, then at any time you may have as many copies of the Software in use as you have licenses. The Software is "in use" on a computer when it is loaded into the temporary memory (i.e. RAM). If the potential number of users of the Software exceeds the number of licenses you have purchased, then you must have a reasonable mechanism or process in place to assure that the number of computers on which the Software is running concurrently does not exceed the number of licenses purchased. "


I's pretty clear, as long as only one instance of that license is open at any given time, it can be on several computers.

 

[SBaugh]

If you buy 5 seats you should install those 5 seats at your each of the 5 work stations instead of using only one seat for all 5. This defeats the purpose of buying 5 seats. If your going to do that then you should get a floating license.

If you have those 5 seats installed at 5 user stations. then those user can take those CD's home and put it on their home stations. The theory is "you can't be in the using both seats at the same time". So you can have that seat at home to use at night. Been like this since 95.

Now whether or not you can have those 5 seats floating around the office is a different story. It would be hard to control whether or not one of those 5 seats was not being used in another dept. while everyone in Engineering is using their seats. This could and probably would lead to misuse of the software per the license agreement.

I know this will sound like a stupid question, but here goes. If my company has installed solidworks on my computer at work can I install that software on my personal computer at home? Someone told me that solidworks allows this. It does not sound true. Can anyone elaborate?

But to answer your question directly - Yes you can install a seat of SW at work and a Seat of SW at home - If you call and talk to your VAR I'm sure they would exapnd on this and would pass it up the ladder. After all they should want the sell.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

If you are in the SW Forum Check out the FAQ section

To make the Best of Eng-Tips Forums FAQ731-376

 

[ctopher]

A few of us do it with a floating license, is legal.

 

[pdybeck]

For those of us like ctopher just mentioned: SolidWorks 2005 Network Licensing allows you to "borrow" a license, for example on a lap-top that is taken out of the office. The license can be replaced when you return to the office. I have only read and heard about this, so I don't know how well it works or the ins and outs of it. Other CAD packages have offered this (I think ProE). I think this helps clear up the licensing confusion - at least on the floating license set up (SNL).

 

[rporter]

If you have a floating license and want to use it at home too, call you var and they can get you a serrial number and reg code to do so. We do that here with our floating license.

 

[ctopher]

I use 04 at work and as stand alone on the laptop with the license on it. I have 05 on the laptop barrowing the 04 license from work wherever I go. My IT dept set it up thru my VAR.

 

[Szelag]

Depends. Where I work we have X floating liscences. If from home you can connect to your liscence server, then it is perfectly legal. Really not much difference from using it on-location at work, you are just slightly further removed.

I don't know if SW does site liscening...before SW we used Inventor and didn't have to worry about a liscence server. Wish we had stuck with Inventor...

 

[Theophilus]

I do a lot of on-site work, and have made this issue clear with my VAR. So it's like PaulnKY posted, and that's how I use it. At this time, my copy is on three computers simultaneously, but I'm the only one using each copy on each computer (only one who knows how).

This licensing, of course, doesn't work on software that is "attached" in a per-computer basis instead of a per-user basis. An example would be anti-virus software, where the computer is the main thing, and not the user.

Jeff Mowry
Industrial Designhaus, LLC

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

 

[SBaugh]

What rporter is talking about is a Home License Agreement that SW offers to those that use the SNL seats of SW.

ctopher - Not sure how you got that set up??

pdybeck - That's true, but for SW04 you couldn't borrow license's like you can with SW05 - On top of that it's different with Standalone seats.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

If you are in the SW Forum Check out the FAQ section

To make the Best of Eng-Tips Forums FAQ731-376

 

[ctopher]

I'm not sure. I gave my laptop to IT dept and told them what I need. My VAR support talked them thru it.