Stanford Software Librarian

Stanford Software Librarian Package

The Stanford Software Librarian Package is a copy protection and licensing program for the Macintosh computer. Its purpose it to prevent users from copying software from cluster machines to run on their own machines, and to prevent more than the licensed number of copies of a program from running.

Features:

License and copy protection of Macintosh applications over the network
Unix based supervisor/administrator program
Drag-and-drop tagging (protection) of applications
Log file generated of application usage
Use of tagged applications can be restricted to a specific set of Macintoshes based on hardware ethernet address and/or AppleTalk net number
Compatible with 680x0, PowerPC, and "Fat" applications

Possible Future Features (not yet implemented):

Implement a time limit feature so that tagged applications can only be run for a specified amount of time
Write a usage profile application to extract usage information from the log file
Include event-driven kerberos user authentication

We would be interested in hearing which of the possible future features above, or any other possible features, you feel would be a worthy addition to the product. Please send comments to softlib@rescomp.stanford.edu.

System Requirements:

Apple Macintosh computer running System 7.0 (or higher)
EtherNet or LocalTalk network connection
A networked UNIX machine running CAP (Columbia AppleTalk Package)

Operational Overview:

As the title of the package suggests, the Stanford Software Librarian package was built around a library metaphor. Applications to be protected by the Software Librarian are first "tagged", and the resulting tag file is put in the Library Supervisor directory. If someone wishes to run a tagged application, they must have the Software Librarian extension installed on their Macintosh (and a network connection). When the tagged application is launched, the Software Librarian contacts the Library Supervisor program running on a Unix machine and checks to see how many other applications are running, and if the machine requesting to run the program is authorized to do so.

The goal therefore is to ensure that all of the software in use at any moment in time has been properly paid for, by enforcing the usage patterns of a conventional library, without relying on any assumptions about the physical location of the information or the physical form it takes.

Sales Information:

The Stanford Software Librarian Package is now available for purchase with a free 30-day trial period.

You may use it free of charge for 30-days. If, after the 30-day trial period, you continue to use it, the price is $500 per server (machine running the Library Supervisor program). There is no limit to the number of clients can be run from a server. (Here at Stanford, we are currently serving over 300 clients from a single server). Other licensing schemes are negotiable if this is not acceptable/feaseable for your institution.

Requests for the fully-functional 30-day trial product should be sent to:

softlib@rescomp.stanford.edu

Purchase fees should be sent to:

Residential Computing
2nd Floor, Wilbur Hall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA  94305

Payment may be either a check made out to "Stanford University", or an institutional Purchase Order form.

For further information, please send e-mail to softlib@rescomp.stanford.edu, or call Stanford Residential Computing at (415) 723-4800.