Vendor-Specific License Tools Loom

Most customers want to stay in compliance with their software licenses, and most would probably acknowledge they could do a better job of it than they are. In that context, what do we make of the decision by Adobe I discussed yesterday to include embedded license controls in Acrobat? Will it on balance prove to be a benefit for volume license customers, or an imposition? Observers who are familiar with Adobe's A

Most customers want to stay in compliance with their software licenses, and most would probably acknowledge they could do a better job of it than they are. In that context, what do we make of the decision by Adobe I discussed yesterday to include embedded license controls in Acrobat? Will it on balance prove to be a benefit for volume license customers, or an imposition?

Observers who are familiar with Adobe's ALM plans each have their own take on these questions. "Adobe's approach has pluses and minuses, but at the end of the day I think it's a positive to have this capability," says Ray Wang, senior analyst with Forrester Research. "From Adobe's viewpoint, it helps their customers achieve compliance and cuts down on the cheating. And that can result in a positive side for customers in that it helps Adobe keep its products affordable."

But having to use a vendor-specific license tool raises issues for some customers, particularly those who already have an organization-wide system for software license management in place. Adobe has said it will have "exceptions" policy allowing such customers to not use ALM, but which tools would qualify and how Adobe would vet the customer's implementation remains very unclear. "Since they haven't given any specifications what we'll have to do to qualify for the exception, when will we know if we can get one?" says Jenny Hartfelder, IT licensing administrator for Bob Jones University. "We manage all of our licenses with the Sassafras KeyServer product, which allows us to track things like concurrent licensing that ALM will not. We have other software vendors who are requiring us to use tools that don't really provide us with any information we don't already have. Adobe is trying to pitch this as a customer benefit, but in most circumstances it's just going to be a headache."

The truth probably is that ALM will help some customers and cause trouble for others. "ALM is a great alternative for smaller companies with fewer machines to manage and not a lot of changes -- the tool provides a single source for deploying licenses and reporting," says Steven Russman, publisher of ECP Media. "If Adobe is successful in their roll out of ALM, and indications are they will be, it will pave the way for other publishers to do the same. Major and minor players could introduce vendor-specific license management tools with or without embedded license controls. Software asset managers in big companies could find themselves managing a slew of special purpose tools, with no real choice in the matter, if they want to continue to use the vendor's products. This will add an unwanted layer of overhead and cost."