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New Imac/old owner issues

L

larold

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 22, 2012
18
0
Hi folks,

I've just purchased an Imac off a friend of mine that came out of a college he works at, which included a load of handy software that I'd quite like to keep going on the machine. However I'm currently unable to update any of the programs it came with as it asks me for a different log in every time I try to update. (I think the old tech guy at the college) The ios updates ok but just none of the software, presumably because none of its registered to me.

Just wondering if I've got any easy options, whether the licences can be transferred over etc?

Cheers for your help!
 
larold said:
Hi folks,

I've just purchased an Imac off a friend of mine that came out of a college he works at, which included a load of handy software that I'd quite like to keep going on the machine. However I'm currently unable to update any of the programs it came with as it asks me for a different log in every time I try to update. (I think the old tech guy at the college) The ios updates ok but just none of the software, presumably because none of its registered to me.

Just wondering if I've got any easy options, whether the licences can be transferred over etc?

Cheers for your help!
Click to expand...
Depends on the university and their software deals. My university had some of the best deals of any university but even then, the day after we graduated, we were required to remove the software from our computer immediately. No questions.
 
btrach144 said:
Depends on the university and their software deals. My university had some of the best deals of any university but even then, the day after we graduated, we were required to remove the software from our computer immediately. No questions.
Click to expand...

Thanks, so it'll be the type of licences taken out on the software I guess, I'll have to get in touch again, see if I can sort it...
 
Right I see, that's a bit of a shame... It's an aside but they should really be transferable shouldn't they? They were bought and then sold on as part of the package of the whole machine. I'm probably opening a can of worms here aren't I...
 
I hate to tell you this but why should they be transferred as you did not pay for the software in the first place. They usually are sold as part of a package deal to the College or University for resale to registered staff and/or students only. Keeping the software after conditions expire is a little like all the 'deals' seen on eBay etc where unscrupulous dealer include pirated software as bait.

A problem will arrive if you need a clean install of software as my Office software requires re-activation each time using the supplied code.
 
Hmm puzzling, Is it not just like selling anything else on second hand? I didn't buy it initially but I didn't buy the machine new either, I'm paying good money for it now though. I don't really see why you shouldn't be able to buy the software as well, it's not like it's even changing machine. Anyway, it's just I had sort of assumed that, probably wrongly. Thanks for all the advice anyhow.
 
larold said:
Hmm puzzling, Is it not just like selling anything else on second hand? I didn't buy it initially but I didn't buy the machine new either, I'm paying good money for it now though. I don't really see why you shouldn't be able to buy the software as well, it's not like it's even changing machine. Anyway, it's just I had sort of assumed that, probably wrongly. Thanks for all the advice anyhow.
Click to expand...
"Is it not just like selling anything else on second hand?"
No, it is not.

Software is generally licensed to the End User for use and not necessarily always licensed to the machine. There can be copyright laws or end-user license agreements (EULA) involved.

Did the original purchaser give you the software license keys they received from the software distributor? Without the license keys you may not be able perform future upgrades.

Information about software licensing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_license
 
Last edited:
CoastalOR said:
"Is it not just like selling anything else on second hand?"
No, it is not.
Click to expand...

Well I guess what I'm saying is why not? Doesn't seem very logical to me, I can't think of too much else you can pay a lot of money for and then you're stuck with it for life if your circumstances change and you'd like to sell it on to someone else. Why make it that much more difficult for the consumer?

Anyway, I fear we may be entering a slightly different debate/conversation, which I find pretty interesting but maybe isn't for this thread?

I do appreciate the responses though... thanks.
 
You never purchased the software. It was left there illegally as an inducement to purchase. Go to eBay etc and you will see shonky dealers selling Macs and PCs with so called thousands of dollars of 'free' software as this inducement.

It is commonly called piracy. The rule is no original DVDs, no license key, no right to the software.
 
Thanks guys, I guess I am but at odds with the very conceptual existence of software itself. Why can't it be sold on? What harm would it be doing? Maybe it would even place more trust in the consumer that they could legitimately sell something they had spent their hard earned money on and no longer required, much like most other consumable and usable products on this earth that we inhabit.

Anyway, sorry I'm being a bit silly now, I fear you have been entrenched too deep and exposed at too great a cost to how software has been sold to you from the start. Remember, question everything - even the framework in which we have been sold and told how to consume software.

x.
[doublepost=1487970524][/doublepost]Sorry just to clarify as well, it wasn't a dodgy deal off the net, ebay or otherwise, it was a second hand machine bought off a friend that had been used by students in a music college. All software completely koshe and paid for with English pounds. (all be it on an educational discount I suspect)
[doublepost=1487970757][/doublepost]And I'm sorry but I have to take the bait Mr Heads. Piracy is very very different surely? Piracy is purchasing an unauthorised copy that has been made by a third party of something. What I've done is buy the original and completely legal copy, but second hand.
 
larold said:
Thanks guys, I guess I am but at odds with the very conceptual existence of software itself. Why can't it be sold on? What harm would it be doing? Maybe it would even place more trust in the consumer that they could legitimately sell something they had spent their hard earned money on and no longer required, much like most other consumable and usable products on this earth that we inhabit.

Anyway, sorry I'm being a bit silly now, I fear you have been entrenched too deep and exposed at too great a cost to how software has been sold to you from the start. Remember, question everything - even the framework in which we have been sold and told how to consume software.

x.
[doublepost=1487970524][/doublepost]Sorry just to clarify as well, it wasn't a dodgy deal off the net, ebay or otherwise, it was a second hand machine bought off a friend that had been used by students in a music college. All software completely koshe and paid for with English pounds. (all be it on an educational discount I suspect)
[doublepost=1487970757][/doublepost]And I'm sorry but I have to take the bait Mr Heads. Piracy is very very different surely? Piracy is purchasing an unauthorised copy that has been made by a third party of something. What I've done is buy the original and completely legal copy, but second hand.
Click to expand...

No you have bought the computer second hand the software license is not theirs to sell unless they stop using it themselves.
That is the agreement they made when purchasing the software for their own use.

You can make all the excuses you like and do whatever you wish, but buying a second hand computer only gives you the right to the OS unless you transfer the software licenses. Yes it counts as piracy. Question whatever you like doesn't mean you are correct or have legal leg to stand on.
 
Course, I totally accept the legality (or illegality) of it, I just find it a strange way to treat a consumable product that's all, not coming from within a computing background so to speak. I totally accept they've made their own rules, I just question whether those rules are really beneficial to the industry or the consumer... Anyway.
 
The issues you are often dealing with as college or business software, is that the software is sold under a site license and not an individual one, so the software does not belong to a specific individual or machine, but rather x number of licenses where sold to that specific university. The University would have to transfer its entire site license to you, if that was even allowable by the software manufacturer. They won't break out one individual machine from the site license, in order to transfer it.
 
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