[OT] How to take a fairly good concept and jack it up badly

[Ben Rubinstein]

On 17/04/2012 16:14, Bob Sneidar wrote:
> I was misinformed. You can do more than one, but I don't think more than 5. We have 70 at least.

My impression is that you can, but you shouldn't.  That is, the store lets you 
download and install on multiple machines; but you are then in breach of the 
license.  The five-machine permit is a 'family license' concept, and doesn't 
apply to commercial use.  If you need a small number greater than one for your 
employees, Apple makes it easy - unless you take legal obligations seriously, 
in which case as Bob points out you either have to jump through a lot of 
hoops, or pay for a minimum quantity of 20 units.

On 17/04/2012 00:14, Kee Nethery wrote:
 > how does Microsoft handle multiple machines in an office?

They have a (relatively!) straightforward Volume Licensing system.  You deal 
with a reseller, they help you navigate through a maze of options, in the end 
they invoice you in the normal way and you end up being able to log into a 
Microsoft portal, manage your licenses (in the case of MS Office, for both Mac 
and Windows), download versions, pay more for 3yrs 'software assurance', etc. 
  It's all a serious attempt to serve - and extract maximum cash from - the 
SME sector.

And there's the rub. Those licenses cost a lot. The reseller has to do some 
work so they have to make their cut, and Microsoft price for the corporate user.

By contrast, a single Lion upgrade is GBP 21 (approx US$ 33).  In this way 
also Apple is clearly aiming at the consumer.  If you have three Windows 
users, you'll probably pay about as much to upgrade them as to buy a 20 pack 
of Lion upgrade licenses.

On 17/04/2012 07:10, Richmond wrote:
> Whatever you may think about Steve Jobs; one should always remember that
> when the 'guru' dies, the nature of the organisation changes

Let's not retroactively credit SJ with every thing good, and exempt him for 
responsibility for everything bad; this problem was being discussed last June, 
long before he departed.