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You Can't Use Google Earth (free) at Work

posted by Satri on Thursday June 15, @09:10AM   Printer-friendly   Email story  Permalink  Trackback URI  Slashdotthis  Diggthis  Del.icio.us
from the not-in-my-country? dept.
Google Virtual Globe Law
The Ogle Earth blog indicates that if you use Google Earth at work (the free version), you're in illegality. From the site: "1. USE OF SOFTWARE The Software is made available to you for your personal, non-commercial use only. You may not use the Software or the geographical information made available for display using the Software, or any prints or screen outputs generated with the Software in any commercial or business environment or for any commercial or business purposes for yourself or any third parties."

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Earlier this week, the Google Earth Enterprise blog was launched. On this entry, the blog answers to general questions about Google Earth Enterprise, king of the four versions of Google Earth. From the entry: "The end-user is interested in rapidly viewing data in a 3D environ and showing clients key deals on the landscape. Thus, the value of our GEE published project is visualization. [...] Unlike ESRI products, the end user is not able to select records en masse with the click of a mouse."
Google Earth Plus - Do You Really Need It? [+]
The new blog named Free Geographic Information Tools has a short entry wondering if Google Earth Plus is worthed the 20$? From the blog: "So of the 6 additional capabilities you get with the Plus version of GE, there are free (or cheap) ways to get better results for three of them: GPS data import, real-time tracking, and spreadsheet import. And for GPS data, there are free tools that will allow you to export GE points and paths to your GPS as waypoints and tracks, something GE Plus can't do."
Technology: Poll Results on Linux and MacOS Geospatial Software and New One about Google Earth's License [+]
The last poll results gave surprising results, and I fail to interpret the numbers. We asked you about using Linux and MacOS X in geospatial technologies. Out of 113 answers, 15% said their software are Windows only, 15% restrain themselves from looking for trouble, 6% simply don't choose their operating system. Now the surprises; 7% claim geosoftware on Linux/MacOS X is not up to par, 22% say it works well, and... 31% claim it works better! That makes 53% of users claiming geospatial software works well or works better on Linux/MacOS X than on MS Windows. Am I the only one surprised? The new poll ask you whether you break the Google Earth license at work, in the context that you can't legally use Google Earth Free or Plus at work.
NASA World Wind License Explained [+]
Because you can't legally install Google Earth (Free or Plus) at work, virtual globes licenses are important. The Earth is Square shares info from Patrick Hogan, the NWW project manager explaining the NASA World Wind licenses. From the post: "Patrick Hogan [the NASA World Wind project manager] has stepped up and posted this to the mailing list as an explanation to the licensing and how they all interact [...] Rather than try to decipher each of the issues expressed regarding the World Wind (WW) license, it should be clearly stated that NASA World Wind.NET and NASA World Wind Java, under the NASA Open Source Agreement (NOSA) license, allow for anyone to make 'changes to the core' and redistribute. This 'core' will necessarily fall under the NOSA. But, this *does not restrict* the ability for third-parties to combine the World Wind core with their proprietary extensions or applications that leverage this core."
Can a Third Party Enforce Google Earth's License? 3 comments [+]
I'm still surprised at how many people don't know they can't legally install Google Earth Free or Plus in a work environment. This made me wonder, can someone or a competing organization (choose the one you want, there's plenty of competitors to Google Earth!) could enforce Google Earth's license? Update: 09/06 11:02 GMT by S : Great news, The Google Earth blog (see comment below) informs us anybody can now use the new Google Earth Free in a work environment for internal use.
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  • You Can't Use Google Earth (free) at Work

    (Score:1, Informative)
    by BamaRob (549) on Thursday June 15, @09:56AM (#719)
    Sure I can. As long as I'm not making (or saving) money for my business, I can use Google Earth at work for my personal use. Makes sense to me. If my business is making or saving money because of the use of Google Earth, I should be willing to pay for it's use. BR

    • Re: You Can't Use Google Earth (free) at Work

      (Score:3, Informative)
      by Anonymous Voxel on Thursday June 15, @10:46AM (#720)
      Actually you can't use it in a work environment even for personal reasons. You violate the EULA if you install GE 4.0 "Free" on your work computer no matter what your purpose.
      [ Parent ]

    • Re: You Can't Use Google Earth (free) at Work

      (Score:3, Informative)
      by Anonymous Voxel on Thursday June 15, @12:21PM (#721)
      What is so confusing about the EULA?? No you can't use GE at work for personal use.

      "You may not use the Software ... in any commercial or business environment or for any commercial or business purposes for yourself or any third parties."

      Environment != project, as project is what constitutes a "commercial or business purpose"

      Environment means the place where the install takes place. NO installing free GE at a business.

      So to summarize:

      NO free GE at work ever
      NO free GE at home if you use GE for anything that makes money for you or anyone else.
      [ Parent ]

      • Re: You Can't Use Google Earth (free) at Work

        (Score:3, Informative)
        by Anonymous Voxel on Monday July 10, @01:26PM (#806)
        "NO free GE at work ever"
        As this EULA change came with GE Beta 4, I would say that as long as you are using Beta 3 and earlier then having it in a work environment is not breaking the EULA you have accepted.
        [ Parent ]

    • Re: You Can't Use Google Earth (free) at Work

      (Score:3, Insightful)
      by The Plant Doctor (263) on Friday June 16, @09:17AM (#726)
      I'd agree with your POV but apparently Google and their EULA doesn't.
      [ Parent ]

    • Re: You Can't Use Google Earth (free) at Work

      (Score:3, Interesting)
      by BamaRob (549) on Friday June 16, @02:08PM (#728)
      After rereading the EULA, I have to agree with you all. I would hope that what they meant to say was something along the lines of my original post. But, since they threw in that bit about "business environment" I can't legally use it at work. Not even for personal use. Bummer! Oh well it didn't run nearly as well on my work laptop (WinXP) as it does on my home Ubuntu laptop, so I removed it from the work machine. Thanks for setting me straight. BR
      [ Parent ]

  • Enforcement?

    (Score:3, Insightful)
    by geognerd (63) on Thursday June 15, @06:00PM (#722)
    Come on. Do you seriously expect Google to enforce this, given the number of copies now in use?

    • Re:Enforcement?

      (Score:4, Insightful)
      by Anonymous Voxel on Friday June 16, @02:46PM (#729)
      Are you proposing that people sell and roll out solutions that rely on pirating software? That looks really nice in a presentation, and no sane person would accept a contract that is based around not paying for software.

      Sure if you want to break the EULA you can do so. Businesses that rely on software generally prefer to pay for the software. The number of copies in existence is irrelevant, GE is no longer a free geobrowser for companies. WorldWind or maybe Arc Explorer will have to fill in the corporate gap.
      [ Parent ]

  • Confusion about the GE versions

    (Score:2)
    by Satri (3) on Monday June 19, @04:07AM (#733)
    ( http://alexandreleroux.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Friday March 17, @04:07PM )
    There's seem to be some confusion. A lot of people I told about the free version of Google Earth not being allowed in a business environment quickly forget the "free" in my sentence :-) The Ogle Earth bog also tells us: "The EULA for the Free and Plus version of Google Earth 4.0 has had a slight reorganization, with a crucial sentence getting promoted nearer to the top.". This means the smallest amount you must pay [google.com] is 400$US for Google Earth Pro (unless you're ready for the Enterprise version? ;-).