Buying and using flightsim products and licensing

When a software license says:

You may install, access, and run a SINGLE copy of the

SOFTWARE PRODUCT on a SINGLE personal computer for

your personal, non-commercial, non-profit use.

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Question:

It used to be that FS couldn't run on laptops. Now, laptops can run FS software okay. I'm not sure that I understand the above phrase.

How do users use software at home (on the desktop) and when they travel (on a laptop)?

Does that mean that the software has to be uninstalled each time you switch from one platform to the other? What if one travels frequently using desktop and laptop also frequently?

Thanks.

That licence indicates it may only be installed and run on one computer at a time. This would mean installing and uninstalling as needed if you wanted to switch from desktop to laptop to be compliant with the licence.

Many applications these days are licensed per user, rather than per machine, or allow for installing on both a desktop and laptop to accommodate situations like you describe. Steam, for example, allows you to install games on multiple machines but will only allow you to play on one at any given time.

In your case you will probably have to buy a second licence, and use that to install on the laptop.

I say 'probably', because it is hard to be sure without seeing the whole licence. And you say it reads: "You may... "

But I think that is not a direct quote. I Think it more likely reads: "This licence grants you the right to... "

which would mean a second licence grants you the right to install on a second pc, such as on a laptop.

Generally speaking, you get a user licence with most software, which means you could theoretically install it on a desktop and a laptop and since you're the one who'd be using it, that would mean only one person is using it at any one time and no rules are being broken. However, as you noted, some licences specifically state only one install is allowed.

Where flight sim stuff is concerned and only a single install is permitted, Lockheed Martin's P3D is one such example of that, FFTF Dynamic is another, you can't activate either of those on more than one machine with a single licence. Conversely, Black Box Simulations stuff, such as their Airbuses, will allow up to two activations, so they can be installed on your desktop and your laptop and activated simultaneously.

I often install software on my laptop and my desktop, because it's only ever going to be me using the things and never at the same time, so this is in lieu of the fact that I could (theoretically at least) uninstall a program off my desktop, deactivate the licence, then install it on my laptop and activate that when on my travels, then do the reverse when I got home. But could anyone really be bothered to do this? Well not me, so that's why I bought two licences for P3D V4, one for my laptop and one for my desktop, even though I only ever use either one or the other, never both at the same time, it was a cost I'd have preferred not to have paid, but it was really the only practical way to do it. But I only have one licence for FFTF Dynamic, because my laptop needed the help it provides to manage decent frame rates with P3D, whereas my desktop can manage without it.

So in the end, it's not only a matter of conscience, but one of practicality too, sometimes I just end up buying things twice for the convenience of being able to activate them on two machines even though they never get run at the same time, some things I'd never run on my laptop because it's just not up to it, so one licence suffices anyway.