Software licensing models: What's out there?

The proper understanding and knowledge of software licensing trends and the new models can yield greatest return on software investment. Software licensing is a procedure which lets an enterprise or user, purchase, install, and use software on a machine or network in accordance with a software vendor's licensing agreement. All software licensing aims to protect both the vendor's investment by minimizing the risk of hard piracy and the enterprise's investment by minimizing the risk of auditing fines from soft piracy. Software licensing will continue to change the technology landscape as broadband to the home becomes more commonplace and Internet technologies empower users to access more data in less time. Users and enterprises will no longer need to negotiate the best deal for purchasing software. There are a number of software licensing models, which are often as diverse and complicated as the programs they are designed to protect.