sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Budd Lake, NJ
| Used IOS?
Technically, I believe Cisco claims that you can't "sell" their software because the license is non-transferable. This of course kind of stinks for people wanting to build a lab AND be legal, or small businesses without the cash for the latest and greatest.
This ruling seems to kind of blow that restriction out of the water:
»arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20···are.html
in short, an Ebay seller was selling used copies of AutoCAD. Autodesk used the DMCA to nuke his account (and livelihood), so he sued them and won. Very interesting article.
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with every mistake we must surely be learning |
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Euphrates
join:2007-04-30
Bellingham, WA
| Interesting, but maybe not applicable. They could say that the software is a part of the hardware and say it's an all or nothing proposition. You want the software you have to buy the hardware and that although the software is sold to you, it is licensed for use only with the hardware. Who knows...it's an interesting situation never-the-less. |
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Phraxos
Premium
join:2004-06-12
UK
| An interesting article and judgement and I would guess almost certain to go to appeal because of its importance.
Cisco have always said that it is illegal to use the installed software even when you buy the hardware (s/h) - you are supposed to re-licence the software.
Clearly everybody must ignore this as it is not cost effective to buy s/h kit and re-licence. From this judgement then I would guess that Cisco can't legally enforce this.
If you read the article in full it does note that this judgement is different to several other recent judgements and I suspect the matter will not be permanently resolved until it goes "all the way". In the UK it has always been argued that "licence" agreements are not enforceable but it has never been tested in the courts. |
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rolande
Certifiable
Premium,Mod
join:2002-05-24
Powell, OH
clubs:
Host:
Linksys
AT&T Midwest
| reply to sporkme
For your lab rack in the basement Cisco will not be beating down your door because of "officially" unlicensed IOS running on the gear. Cisco has never had any effective method of enforcement aside from threat of litigation back to the stone age. In fact, myself along with many others use our CCO access to download "test" versions of IOS for lab hardware all the time. Cisco will not bite the hands that help companies keep purchasing their gear. If the guys that are making the purchasing recommendations based on lab mock-ups and testing were forced to pay for test code, you can bet there would be less testing and recommending going on. 
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Ignorance is temporary...stupidity lasts forever!
»www.thewaystation.com/techref/tech.shtml
-- Scott, CCIE #14618 Routing & Switching |
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Euphrates
join:2007-04-30
Bellingham, WA
| said by rolande  :For your lab rack in the basement Cisco will not be beating down your door because of "officially" unlicensed IOS running on the gear. Cisco has never had any effective method of enforcement aside from threat of litigation back to the stone age. In fact, myself along with many others use our CCO access to download "test" versions of IOS for lab hardware all the time. Cisco will not bite the hands that help companies keep purchasing their gear. If the guys that are making the purchasing recommendations based on lab mock-ups and testing were forced to pay for test code, you can bet there would be less testing and recommending going on. Very good point on that one actually. The testing and studying I've done with Cisco equipment when working on my Cisco cert studies is what led me to purchase my own Cisco devices (Cisco 871, ASA 5505, maybe an 1811 or 1861 here in the near further). Without the ability to do that or being forced to "license" everything, I probably would have went with a netsim and wouldn't have decided I wanted to go far with my certification.
It definitely helps them in the long run. |
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sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Budd Lake, NJ
| reply to Euphrates
said by Euphrates :Interesting, but maybe not applicable. They could say that the software is a part of the hardware and say it's an all or nothing proposition. That would make buying/selling stuff on Ebay easier!  |
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linksysinfo
join:2005-03-14
UK
edit:
May 25th, @05:41AM
| reply to sporkme
I find this strange tbh that someone would buy IOS images from ebay when you buy a Cisco Software maintenance pack(CON-SW-PKG1-VS0) and download your images for next to nothing.
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Regards Simon
Cisco ASA5505 v8.03(12)512Mb / WRTSL54GS Tomato v1.19 |
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Lasko
@qwest.net
| reply to sporkme
I keep expecting Cisco to do something about the licensing of IOS. It would make sense for them to consider the HW/SW as a package and tie a single IOS image to a single router. Don't know if it is possible but I do expect to see some tightening of IOS licensing in the next year or two. |
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Phraxos
Premium
join:2004-06-12
UK
| I believe reading somewhere (but don't quote me on this) that Cisco's next generation of routers will require activation codes to enable features (like PIXes do now). They will all have the same software on them but you will need to get (and pay for) a new activation code if you want to change the feature set. |
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luminaire
Premium
join:2005-03-22
Oakville, ON
clubs:
| reply to sporkme
I really hope they don't go the activation code route for IOS, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. They know they're losing money on IOS licensing, probably just not how much. It'll just be an annoying step when setting up new boxes.
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Luminaire
My Blog |
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