iLife and iWord question...

B

briansanderson

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I have multiple macs here at home and I was wondering how many machines you can install this software on. I mean do I have to buy a copy of iLife and iWork for each mac or can I just install it on however many macs I want. Thanks for the info.
 
According to the license, it'll probably say only for use on one machine, but I have Apple programs from the same disk on two machines and haven't had any problem.

Unless Apple puts a network checker in like MS does.
 
The problem would be it's _illegal_, bobw. ;) License is quite clearly single user. You might argue you only use it on one machine at any given time, though, should Apple's lawyers ever get to you...
 
I doubt Apple seriously expects all of its customers to purchase separate licenses for each Mac they own. The restriction simply offers them legal recourse against wide spread abuse, as well as limiting their support help to one registered user per purchase.

A short time ago I noticed some share-ware vendors starting to grant double-use licenses, on the assumption that many users owned both a desktop and a portable.
 
MBHockey: Mostly because the OS comes with the computer, so your computer is a license, basically. And because being nice to the user pays off at the end of the day. I pay for my Mac OS X licenses. Gladly so.
 
Hi Brian

It depends on what you buy... For example, I bought a "family" version of iLife - the license allows for installation on up to 5 computers... (£55.32 instead of £49 - it made an easy choice of "doing the right thing"!) ::angel::

Couldn't find the same thing for iWork though... Single license only. :(
 
Most of Apple's "pro" applications require serial numbers: Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Mac OS X Server, Logic, Motion, etc. I would assume this is because if a user illegally uses that software on a second machine, Apple loses close to $1,000. They lose 1/10th of that on software such as iWork and iLife.

Plus, the "pro" applications are more likely to be used in studios with networked Macintosh computers -- use of serial numbers deters people from purchasing one copy and installing it on all the computers. For home users, how many Macintosh users have more than one or two Macs? It's far less likely for iLife to be illegally installed on numerous machines than it is for a professional software to be...
 
Actually, many EULAs allow for installs on multiple computers, so long as it's only used on 1 at a time. iLife has no serial #'s or any verification, so you could install on multiple computers and be within the EULA so long as you use only one copy at a time. I am not sure if Apple implements this in their EULA, but Adobe, Macromedia and even Microsoft allow for this.

As for iWork, it does have a serial #. I'm not sure if it does verification to prevent two copies from running at once like Office or Photoshop does though.
 
It all depends on the EULA. Just because a piece of software doesn't require a serial number or explicity check for other copies running on other machines doesn't mean it's legal to install it on more than one machine.

I don't have iLife '05 yet, but Apple's EULA for iLife '04 explicitly states that the software can only be installed and used on one computer at a time:
This License allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple Software on a single computer at a time. This License does not allow the Apple Software to exist on more than one computer at a time, and you may not make the Apple Software available over a network where it could be used by multiple computers at the same time.
Click to expand...
From: http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/ilife04.html

In my interpretation, that pretty much says that you can install the software on only one machine. Even if you only used one copy at a time, it would still be illegal to have the software installed on more than one machine -- so you home/office users that have a desktop and a laptop will need to purchase the family pack, or multiple single-license copies of the software in order to use it on both machines.

I'm pretty sure the EULA hasn't changed much from iLife '04 to iLife '05 -- can someone with iLife '05 take a look at the EULA and see?

Adobe's EULA does permit home users to install the software (PhotoShop CS) on up to two computers, as long as the software is not used simultaneously.
http://www.adobe.com/products/eulas/main.html

Macromedia's EULA is similar to Adobe's: permitting home users to install on a maximum of two machines, so long as the installs are not used simultaneously, and only if the license holder is the one using the copies (so if you install on two computers at home, only one license holder is allowed to use the software -- so if you install on your computer and Dad's computer, Dad can't use the software at all. Only you can.)
http://www.macromedia.com/software/eula/tools/

Microsoft's is a little more convoluted. They have different licensing restrictions depending on the use: for example, someone who uses Microsoft Office at work can obtain a license to use the software at home as well, but only under certain conditions. It's not a surprise to me that Microsoft has a very strict and complicated EULA covering all types of uses of their software...

At any rate, it seems that Apple is more strict with their licensing, permitting only one copy to be installed and one copy to be used; whereas other companies are a little more lenient, allowing the software to be installed on two computers in certain situations.
 
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