Licensing on a personal computer

[Javilen]

I recently took Core 1 and 2 and the instructor mentioned something interesting about the licensing agreement.

My work has the subscription version of LabVIEW Professional 2023 and I can apparently install it on a my personal computer as well.   This can open up a lot of personal projects where I would be limited by the community addition.  What process would it be for me to set this up? Would I need to link a license between two separate accounts? 

[billko]

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@Javilen wrote:

I recently took Core 1 and 2 and the instructor mentioned something interesting about the licensing agreement.

My work has the subscription version of LabVIEW Professional 2023 and I can apparently install it on a my personal computer as well.   This can open up a lot of personal projects where I would be limited by the community addition.  What process would it be for me to set this up? Would I need to link a license between two separate accounts? 

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This can also open up a lot of legal issues with your company.  They could claim that anything developed with software licensed to them is their property.  You might contest this.  They would probably win.  It is best to keep personal and work-related stuff totally separate, and that means any tools you might use.

Just because a professional license means you can develop stuff for commercial use doesn't mean that you can use company assets to develop stuff for your commercial use.

[rolfk]

I would echo billko’s advice. Anything you are not allowed to do with the Community Edition, would possibly bring you in legal conflict with your employer if you used HIS license for it.

Did you already check your work contract fora non-competing clause? You may not even be allowed to do any commercial work of your own with LabVIEW if you bought your own LabVIEW license!

[Javilen]

Almost certain they have non-compete although what want to do is different enough.  Hope they don't decide that anything I do in LabVIEW is theirs.  Other colleagues brought this issue up with SOLIDWORKS and have pushed me for a different CAD tool entirely. 

I was a bit disappointed with the OpenSuse version of the community edition.  Not sure what compatibility I would have with different DAQ devices, libraries, or if I can package anything as an .exe on Windows.

[billko]

I think you should go to the legal department and get official advice.  But really, I wouldn't even entertain the thought of using their license to do personal work.

[rolfk]

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@billko wrote:

I think you should go to the legal department and get official advice.  But really, I wouldn't even entertain the thought of using their license to do personal work.

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If it is to automate your door bell or do some fun project it probably won’t be a problem. They would probably like someone to learn a bit extra in their own free time. But then you could use the Community Edition too for that! Anything else is tricky to the point of the employer either claiming to own the work or using it as an excuse to terminate the work contract for some alleged conflict of interest that was created.

Will it happen? Probably not, but do you want to set yourself up for that possibility?

[Lavezza]

The LabVIEW Home Usage Exception is "...limited to work performed in the scope of such person's employment...". In other words, you can't use your company's LabVIEW license at home for anything other than work projects. No personal projects.