Re: Re2: free Matlab access?

[Jaroslav Hajek]

On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 7:47 PM, Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso
<address@hidden> wrote:
> I knew that those hours spent trolling the debian-legal mailing list
> would one day pay off... ;-)
>
> 2009/1/22 Jaroslav Fojtik <address@hidden>:
>> Here is a full licence agreement.
>
> Gah, what a mess. Restricting freedoms is hard work!
>
>> The MathWorks, Inc. Software License Agreement
> [snip]
>> 4. LICENSE RESTRICTIONS.  The License is subject to the express
>>   restrictions set forth below. Licensee shall not, and shall not
>>   permit any Third Party to:
>>
> [snip]
>>   4.8. provide access (directly or indirectly) to the Programs via a web
>>        or network Application, except as permitted in Article 8 of the
>>        Deployment Addendum;
>
> Alright, so no network use here, except that we have to check what
> that Addendum says...
>
> But we do have one other addendum that says...
>
> [snip]
>> The MathWorks, Inc. Software License Agreement - Installation and Use
>> Addendum
> [snip]
>> This is an Addendum to The MathWorks, Inc. Software License Agreement
>> (the "Agreement"), and the terms and conditions of this Addendum are
>> incorporated therein.  Each capitalized term used herein and not defined
>> herein shall have the meaning ascribed to it in the Agreement.
>> 4. LICENSE OPTIONS AND DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING.
> [snip]
>>   4.3. Concurrent.  Except as specifically set forth in Section 4.4
>>        hereof, the Concurrent License Option permits only the Network
>>        Concurrent User Installation Type.
> [snip]
>> 5. INSTALLATION TYPES.
> [snip]
>>   5.3. Network Concurrent User.  The Programs may only be installed in
>>        a central location on a single designated network server.
>>        Licensee may have only as many Licensed Users simultaneously
>>        operating a Program at any given time as the number of
>>        Concurrent keys acquired for that Program, except in the case of
>>        the Engine in which case the number of Program sessions running
>>        at any one time is limited to the number of Engine workers
>>        acquired.  Portions of the Programs may be installed on
>>        individual computers to accelerate startup times, as long as the
>>        installations on the individual computers are controlled by the
>>        license manager on the network server.  Subject to the
>>        foregoing, a Licensed User of the Concurrent License Option may
>>        utilize any number of computers served by a single license
>>        manager server provided that, before starting a Program session
>>        on any computer, the Licensed User checks out a Concurrent key
>>        from the license manager server for that computer, and that any
>>        Concurrent Program sessions on each computer are not run on more
>>        than two (2) separate processors on each computer.   Licensees
>>        of the Concurrent License Option are prohibited from providing
>>        Program access to users located outside the country in which the
>>        license manager server is installed unless Licensee has
>>        contracted for global use.  For the purposes of the Concurrent
>>        License Option, all servers located in a member country of the
>>        North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") shall be
>>        considered located in the same country as those of the other
>>        NAFTA members, and all servers located in Iceland, Norway,
>>        Switzerland, or any member country of the European Union ("EU")
>>        shall be considered located in the same country.
>
> So maybe something like this could work for Hájek. However,
>
>> THE MATHWORKS, INC. SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT - Deployment > Addendum
> [snip]
>> 3. NONCOMPETITION.  Licensee agrees not to use the Programs, Derivative
>>   Forms, Generated Forms, or Program Components to make or distribute
>>   its own or a Third Party's Application, a principal purpose of which,
>>   as reasonably determined by MathWorks, is to perform the same or
>>   similar functions as Programs licensed by MathWorks or which replaces
>>   any component of the Programs.  Licensee shall not otherwise use the
>>   Programs to compete with the products or businesses of MathWorks,
>>   including by distributing Libraries, or any form of an entire Program
>>   or a substantial portion of a Program.
>
> Gah, this one looks really nasty. They're trying to make it illegal to
> create Octave if you use Matlab!
>

Hey, IANAL either, but my first defense would be stating that I'm by
no means using Matlab to make or distribute Octave! I'm developing
using ViM and distributing using Savannah.
In principle, I think anyone who developed a script improving on one
of Matlab's functions (and  there are hundreds of those) using the
Matlab's built-in editor did violate this clause, and more apparently
than (possibly) me.

> I think our only hope is clean-room reverse engineering[1]... I
> wouldn't put it past the Mathworks to try to sue Octave out of
> existence if they discover that its lead developers are using Matlab
> in order to develop Octave.
>

Again, by comparing Octave's and Matlab's speed, I don't develop Octave.


-- 
RNDr. Jaroslav Hajek
computing expert
Aeronautical Research and Test Institute (VZLU)
Prague, Czech Republic
url: www.highegg.matfyz.cz