I hold just a single Norton Ghost 2003 licence.
Is this licence linked to me personally or linked to for example 1 PC?
So am I legally allowed if I just use the floppy to backup for example 20 PC's using this single licence and carry the backup images with me or leave with the systems without the licence?
Thanks for your reply...
I'd like to use the backup floppy to backup old PC's running (mostly) windows NT/Win2000 and need a backup solution that allows me to backup without installing the software onto the system, so the Ghost 2003 floppy is a possible solution.
So in case I need to backup severals systems using a floppy I need a license for every system?
Then I have a couple more questions about the license:
- Does it make a difference if I do NOT install the software on the hard disk, but only use a floppy?
- Does it make a difference if I take the image taken with me, so not leave it with the system?
- Am I legally allowed to use also Ghost2003 (or below) if I purchase a Ghost 15 licence for that system?
- Can I also purchase a seperate license (2003 would do) without purchasing the whole software package?
A personal opinion from a Symantec employee....
It has always been the case that a license for Ghost was intended for use with one
machine per client license. That was always the basis on which it was sold, although the intent wasn't clear once lawyers got involved - the formal EULA unfortunately is written to deal with US Law and that tends to lead to a lot of obfuscation.
A single copy of Ghost 2003 is for use with a single machine. That's the overall intent. It's also a consumer product not intended for business use, so consumer law applies (and if you're a business, you shouldn't be using it and should be using one of the commercial editions). It's what happens when machines come and go where this gets complicated.
In practice, what the EULA of the time probably didn't spell out (and remember, those things are written by lawyers, not human beings) was any rules or process for transferring those licenses. In fact, I think the new GSS2.5 EULA is the first time it's been specifically addressed in a clause, although the new EULA still fails to address all kinds of other processes.
This is complicated by quirks of law, some of which are unique to the US. In most countries, there are consumer-protection laws that are quite different from those governing commercial contracts, and each jurisdiction contains unique provisions, many of which don't have any real body of case-law built up for how they apply to software products (and some of which by virtue of being general consumer protections are treated as "rights" that override other laws and can be used to annul other arrangements).
The US in particular has this strange thing called the "First Sale Doctrine". How overarching pieces of legal doctrine like that which control the transfer of license between individuals might affect or be applied to the transfer of licenses from machine to machine I won't speculate, not being trained in U.S. law. Suffice to say it's murky.
Honestly, it's a mess for everyone. For your situation you would have to read the Ghost 2003 EULA and then match it up with the applicable body of consumer law.
Frankly, though, as long as you've been using it just as a home product, I wouldn't worry too much (assume good faith and all that). It's really only use of it for commercial operation that's really a problem, since Ghost 2003 is not and never was sold for commercial use - that's what the commercial editions were for.
Bear in mind that we no longer sell Ghost as a consumer product, only commercially. Different rules apply to commercial products.
What the current EULA says specifically is that once you use Ghost on a machine, that consumes a license until said machine is decommisioned, and decommision is defined in the EULA thus:
Quote:
17.2.2 Permanently Decommissioned is defined as physically deleting all software, including but not limited to, the Licensed Software and all operating systems, from the hard drive(s) of the Device so that the Device is no longer operable or used by You in any capacity."
Hi bartlammers,
- Does it make a difference if I do NOT install the software on the hard disk, but only use a floppy?
Having a license could never require you to actually install the software on the computer it was purchased for.
- Does it make a difference if I take the image taken with me, so not leave it with the system?
There are no requirements about where the image must be stored so this is fine.
- Am I legally allowed to use also Ghost2003 (or below) if I purchase a Ghost 15 licence for that system?
You would need to ask Customer Sevice that question. But why would you want to? Ghost 15 also allows COLD backups so the software does not have to be installed.
- Can I also purchase a seperate license (2003 would do) without purchasing the whole software package?
You should discuss this with Customer service also.
I think you are better off to discuss all these questions with Customer Service. In the end, they (Symantec) have the final say on licensing questions like this.
Another thing you might want to consider is Backup Exec System Recovery (BESR) which is built on Ghost technology but might have more flexible multi-user licenses. More on BESR can be found here.
Thanks
Allen
I hold just a single Norton Ghost 2003 licence.
Is this licence linked to me personally or linked to for example 1 PC?
So am I legally allowed if I just use the floppy to backup for example 20 PC's using this single licence and carry the backup images with me or leave with the systems without the licence?