Re: Delphi 6 pesonal - download?

From: Lauchlan M (LMackinnon_at_NOSPAMHotmail.com)
Date: 07/22/04 

Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 16:52:00 +1000

> > You've got to be joking. Something Borland published for years on
> > their own website, which has a license agreement attached which you
> > have to agree to in order to install, and which you can get off of
> > backordered magazine cds is illegal to download?
>
> No, sorry, I'm not joking and it is a violation of Borland's copyright
> to download it.
>
> Notice that I haven't said anything about the wisdom of that. If it
> were up to me, that file would be freely distributable, but the fact
> remains that it isn't.
>
> > So if I have it on my harddrive is it now illegal just because its no
> > longer on Borlands server?
>
> I'm not sure how that follows. If it is legally on your harddrive, of
> course you can install it. You cannot, however, distribute it or make
> it available for distribution.
>
> > What am I missing, because this can't possibly be your
> > arguement.
>
> It's not.

Nick,

I don't particularly care one way or the other on this issue (I don't
need/use Delphi personal), but if we accept that it's illegal for someone to
distribute it (I'll take your word on the licence agreement terms for this)
but that it _is_ legal to install/use it once you have a copy, I can see
that it's then illegal for the site that serves D6 personal to serve it, but
how does that make it illegal for anyone to download it from a public site
that does serve it? All that downloading does is puts a copy on someones
hard drive, where, as you just said, it is then legal to install it from.

Not trying to be difficult, I just don't follow the logic. I can see that
this is a little bit analogous to the case where someone pirates software
and distributes it via file sharing or on a website, where it might come
downloaded with a licence file but this is not a valid licence provided with
the product by the vendor and thus doesn't count - but if someone is serving
up say a version that was always free anyway and nothing has been
cracked/hacked I'm not sure we should see it in the same way . . .

ie, my question is whether and why it would be illegal for someone to
download it from the site mentioned (as opposed to the legality of serving
it on the site mentioned).

Basically I am confused about why, when you get exactly the same file and
licence agreement on your PC and then install it, it's illegal if you got
that file from a PC magazine but illegal if you download it from a website
serving exactly that same file and licence agreement. I guess it might have
something to do with a legal right to grant that licence, but the licence is
still through Borland anyway so I don't see a difference . . .

Does the licence somehow refer to the software only being legal if it's
obtained from specified list of authorized sources?

Lauchlan M

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Is linux free
    ... So it is an "agreement", not a licence, in title. ... So if you agree to this agreement, then you can't install "the ... neither GPL nor any of the other constituent software's licences ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)
  • Re: Damned AVG toolbar
    ... Agreed but I just download the updates manually and then update Avira. ... That licence gets renewed automatically with the updates. ... have to download and install a copy with a later date. ... For that reason I have stopped using Avira, and use Avast on the machines ...
    (uk.comp.homebuilt)
  • Re: TCL/TK license
    ... That's a matter of what licence GD gave you. ... internet in a different place than the GD install, and use that for your own ... scripts, and, scripts being highly human-readable, if you're going to go about ... possibility that their licence agreement contains verbiage that you shall not ...
    (comp.lang.tcl)
  • Re: Skins
    ... Agree to the licence ... >>How do I download and install skins for my Pocket PC( ... >>Windows Mobile 2003)???? ...
    (microsoft.public.pocketpc.multimedia)
  • Re: A response to Phil Carmody.
    ... The asm32 licence is contained in the original ... download and it clearly did not justify what Betov did with it. ... In light of the original licence published with asm32, ... The statement from Microsoft USA is, ...
    (alt.lang.asm)
Loading