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Comment by patrickg | Hacker News Reader

    "...but if you want to execute a compiled result of that source code I can still ask you to pay me for it."

morally: yes. Legally? I don't think that there is a law (German law is the one that I know a bit) that allows you restrict the usage of a piece of software.

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When you buy a game on Steam, what kind of license do you buy? I think it's a license that allows you to play the game, i.e., use the binary. But I'm certainly not a lawyer.

Licenses are to my knowledge always part of copying, not of executing. That is: you may download a game to your computer, if you've got the permission. But Steam cannot tell you that you are only allowed to run the game on wednesdays.

If you buy a cookbook, you don't need a separate license to execute the recipes.

I have not looked in over a year, but the Steam licenses used to be very careful about avoiding the word, "buy", altogether and instead used the word, "rent".

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