licensing

Last week, Microsoft finally provided some additional information on how the "game licensing" policy will work for the company's newly introduced Xbox One. It was our first peek behind the curtain on how discs, digital downloads, game sharing, and Xbox Live accounts will work and interact on the upcoming game console.

The new policy explicitly states that the new system was designed so that "game publishers can enable you to trade in your games at participating retailers." But reading between the lines of that lawyery language, most gamers took that to mean that the aftermarket … Read more

Salesforce.com and patent aggregator Intellectual Ventures inked a new licensing deal on Friday that gives Salesforce access to some 40,000 of IV's patents.

The deal is the latest by Intellectual Ventures, a Bellevue, Wash.-based company that's made headlines for accumulating a massive trove of software and design patents, along with other intellectual property.

A major part of IV's business includes licensing patents out to other companies, which can use them for legal protection, though it's also made waves for litigating other companies.

Pricing and length of the deal were not disclosed, and a … Read more

Microsoft officials said Monday that Microsoft has surpassed the 100 million Windows 8 licenses sold milestone -- a number on par with the number of Windows 7 licenses the company sold in its first six months on the market.

(Windows 8 and Windows RT went on sale on October 26, 2012. So the exact six-month mark was April 26, which was 10 days ago.)

"If there had been more touch devices in the market, it would have been even more," said Tami Reller, the chief financial officer of Microsoft's Windows client team. That said, "our sell-through … Read more

The shift by Adobe Systems toward its Creative Cloud subscription plan looks to be popular with customers, a Jefferies survey of some of them shows.

Adobe is making its entire Creative Suite of software available for an introductory price of $30 per month for annual commitments, with a regular $50 monthly price to kick in later. The subscription also includes services, software that's not part of the CS products, and early updates that traditional perpetual-license customers won't get until CS7.

Jefferies asked customers about their sentiments in a follow-up to a 2012 survey with CNET.

"The majority … Read more

Microsoft has changed its license agreement for its Office 2013 productivity suite, which now allows you to transfer serial numbers to new systems and activate it to allow the software to work.

Office is one of the more popular (if not required) programs for many activities, so having it on a system is often quite convenient to have; however, Microsoft has had an ongoing licensing restriction with its latest Office versions that prevents you from activating a previously used serial number on newer systems, even if you have uninstalled the software from prior systems. This setup obviously frustrates those who … Read more

Office 2013 users can now legally transfer their license if they buy a new computer or their current one breaks down.

In the face of user concerns over its previous policy, Microsoft today amended its Office 2013 license agreement. Now Office 2013 customers can move the software and license to another PC once every 90 days.

Effective immediately, the agreement covers Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013, Office Professional 2013, and all of the standalone Office 2013 applications.

Microsoft's previous policy for Office 2013 limited users to a perpetual license good for only one PC. … Read more

Can Office 2013 users transfer their license from one PC to another? Well, it depends.

Microsoft recently created some confusion and controversy when it revealed that Office 2013 would be restricted to one PC. People who need to install the software on another PC are out of luck, or so it seems. Ed Bott of CNET sister site ZDNet illuminated the licensing changes in the new suite.

You can't buy Office 2013 on DVD or other media. Instead, you have to purchase a key card, which allows you to download the software. But the real kicker is that Office … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Republican senator says video games are a bigger problem than guns.

- DMVs ban txtspeak on license plates.

- The greatest hacker T-shirts this planet has ever seen.

- Amoeba Music finally puts used, errr, rare records for sale online.… Read more

You giggled when you filled out your application for a new Arizona license plate. You thought your chances were good the DMV wouldn't get "LOLGTFO." You were wrong. That is one of many banned license plates on the state of Arizona's extensive no-drive list.

GovernmentAttic.org has released a treasure trove of banned-plate lists from various states. Arizona, in particular, has a very long list of plates you're not allowed to have. Most of them aren't too surprising. The standard curse words aren't allowed. If you wanted your BMW to say "MYPOOPY," you're out of luck. Some of the banned plates are a bit curious. For example, "BIOPSY" is not allowed.… Read more