Limiting logons to licensed number: how?

[Keith Pilotti @shine]

In article <112 at vcvax1.UUCP> paul at vcvax1.UUCP (paul) writes:
>I should point out that our licensing from AT&T is on a per-user
>basis, so we are legally obligated to restrict the number of
>users to the licensed number.

    Hmmm, I might be spoiled by public domain software, but my gut feeling
    isn't too good on this.  First it was PER-CPU licensing, now it's
    PER-USER ?  What's next, PER-PROCESS ??  PER-CYCLE ???  (Imagine:
    "I'm sorry, the PID you just created, 1-0-0-1, is beyond the daily
    limit imposed by your license.  Please reboot the machine or come
    back tomorrow.")

    Maybe I'm economically naive, but I think this is ridiculous.  When I buy
    something, I feel I should be able to do whatever I darn well please with
    it.  I'd rather not have some Big-Brother tell me I can only toast bread
    Monday-Friday unless I pay more for the toaster. 

    I realize I don't ever "buy" Unix, just "rent", and that if I don't
    like it I don't have to use it.  (Those answers are cop-outs.)

    Thinking of other commodities in life, the precedent of charging more
    money for greater use seems to be justified and expected only for things
    which are consumable.  I don't see that to be the case with hardware or
    operating systems.  How does it cost AT&T more to develop Unix depending
    on the number of people that can login to my machine?  This also implies
    that if I normally have 5 users, and for one week a year I have 10, I'm
    forced to pay for 10 users always. 

    I can't help but think that the whole point behind this is to charge
    "what the market will bear", ie. to squeeze every last dime out of the
    consumer's pocket, regardless of justification. 

    I would like to hear considered opinions on this topic, pro and con.

    Thanks...
    /+\ Keith
    ________________________________________________________
    KEITH F. PILOTTI -- TeleSoft         (619) 457-2700 x172
                        10639 Roselle St, SanDiego, CA 92121

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        (ARPA) Pilotti at UCSD