On Apr 21, 16:33, Torquil MacCorkle, III wrote:
> > True, and there's another factor: SGI's licence for the software on
> > those CDs prohibits them being passed on to another person except
when
> > transferred with a machine licensed to use them. SGI have
occasionally
> > been known to get shirty about that.
>
> I thought that since all SGI's originally came with IRIX, all of them
had
> the rights to use IRIX so transfer of media was okay? Seems I have
been
> mistaken, I guess I will keep the CDs afterall.
Not necessarily. Each machine has the right to use the latest version
that was supplied for that individual machine (ie, that serial number).
As far as I understand it, if you had, say, an Indy that originally
came with IRIX 5.3, and had a support contract that entitled you to
upgrades through IRIX 6.2 to IRIX 6.5, you could pass on the 6.5 CDs
you got, along with the Indy. But if you didn't have a support
contract, and SGI didn't supply you with 6.5 specifically for that
Indy, then that Indy would only be entitled to run 5.3. Ditto for an
O2 that originally came with 6.3 and never had a maintenance contract
that entitled it to an upgrade to 6.5. You could buy the upgrade
separately, and that would include a right-to-use, but the cheapest way
to buy 6.5 from SGI is to buy a support contract :-)
At least SGI's licences transfer with the machine, unlike DEC's.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Wed Apr 21 2004 - 18:03:24 BST