Virtualizing desktops or applications? Watch software licensing terms

I’m working on ways to better deliver applications to my users.  We have a number of licensing agreements that allow concurrency — that is, we have a license limit.  We can install the software on as many machines as we like, but we can only have active a certain number as defined in our license agreement.  This is enforced through the use of a license server.

It seems like it would be a small step to make these applications available via Remote Desktop Services RemoteApp or VDI, right?  Not really.  In an effort to extract unwarranted dollars from organizations, some software vendors are disallowing this delivery method under their licensing terms and forcing organizations to buy virtualization rights.

Personally, I find this pretty objectionable and I’ll be making sure that my software vendors know it.  At the same time, where possible and reasonable, we’ll look for alternative titles.  Where we can’t use alternative titles, we’ll limit use or, as a last resort, pay the the “virtualization rights” ransom.

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