Academic or “anemic” software? |
Those who might think they can use academic software for any commercial purpose, think again. I have to wonder how much a deal it really is. Consider the $199 deal through Macromedia for Flash MX 2004, which is $700 off the normal software price but … and it’s a big but … read the fine print:
Education end users are full-time students, faculty, staff and employees of government-certified educational institutions, consisting of Elementary, Middle, Junior High and High Schools, and Accredited public or private universities, colleges, and community colleges that grant degrees requiring at least two years of full-time matriculation. What are the restrictions in using education versions of Macromedia products? Education versions of Macromedia products are intended for instructional and administrative purposes only and may not be used for any commercial purpose. Macromedia will conduct periodic security audits to be certain of your education qualification.
If you are a regular eBay software purchaser than you should be forewarned about the dangers of purchasing academic software. One, you probably don’t qualify, but if you do, and you want to use it for a commericial purpose then you are still going to have to upgrade to the regular version. I think the whole Academic Pricing thing isn’t even that useful for school. Don’t developers want to obtain software that they can use to develop commercial software? Or is it only for their personal use to play around with functions and features?
Did this post make you go hmm?
(Hmm, no ratings yet)
Loading ...
Your comment that Blogcritics would be better off if it were reviews only, no fragging etc., is one I agree with. Of course, as one who almost exclusively writes reviews, and rarely reads Blogcritics or comments on/in it, I may be biased. I’m gonna mention this to Eric when I meet him at the next Blogcritics annual get-together.
Comment by Joe Stirt aka bookofjoe — February 11, 2004 @ 2:17 pm PST
I agree with you about people buying edu software for commercial purposes. I think it used to be a lot worse then it is now. But I still say that the $200 is a great deal because of the amount of web development that goes on inside a school, especially a large sized university.
Comment by Ken Edwards — February 11, 2004 @ 5:42 pm PST