Keep track of software licenses with the help of these five apps

Software

Five affordable apps for managing software licenses

By Jack Wallen in Five Apps, November 24, 2014, 8:33 AM PST

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A misplaced license can create way more trouble than you have time to deal with. Here are five handy apps that can help you sidestep all that frustration.

If you're a busy IT admin, one of the last things you need to deal with is a missing software license. The simple loss of a string of characters can lead you into a tailspin of frustration -- dealing with vendors to reclaim those licenses or worse, having to re-purchase the same software.

Instead of risking such a loss, why not employ an app to help you keep track of those licenses? Plenty of solutions are available to you. Some are geared specifically for that purpose; others are equally capable, though intended for a different purpose use. Let's examine five apps that will help you keep those licenses safe from absentmindedness or disaster.

Note: This article is also available as an image gallery and a video hosted by TechRepublic columnist Tom Merritt.

1: MobiDB Database Designer Lite

MobiDB Database Designer Lite (Figure A) is a personal data manager for the Android platform. It is a data-cataloging tool extraordinaire that makes it incredibly easy to store data in preconfigured databases or create custom databases of your own. In the preconfigured databases, there is an entry for software that includes text entry for name, key, license, vendor, price, date of purchase, where purchased, and comments.

Figure A

Other features include a barcode scanner, filtering, multiple tables/relations, data entry via form, and support for 14 field types. MobiDB Lite does limit you to 1,000 entries per database. If you need more, you'll want to turn to the standard version (which will set you back $10.00 USD).

2: Snipe IT

Snipe IT (Figure B) is an open source web-based asset and license management tool. Although still in alpha, the software is already usable. With Snipe IT you can manage deployable assets, pending assets, undeployable assets, ready-to-deploy assets, software licenses, labels, users, and more. You'll be able to see what assets are assigned to whom and what licenses they have. One feature the developers have planned is better/easier handling of multi-pack licensing. This will be a big help in managing large deployments.

Figure B

3: Password Gorilla

Password Gorilla (Figure C) is not actually intended for license management, but it can easily fill such a need. It's also secure, which should bring you a bit more peace of mind that your licenses are safe from prying eyes. Password Gorilla is a cross-platform application (Linux, Windows, Mac, Android) and it's free.

Figure C

To use this app for licenses, I create a Login entry for each piece of software deployed. Then, in the password section, I enter the license number. Using this approach, you can hide/show the license with single button click and enter user information in the Notes section. For larger deployments, to keep things better organized, I've created subgroups for each department within the company (and then created Logins for software titles within the subgroups). It works great if you just need to keep track of licenses (and who has them).

4: License Distribution

License Distribution (Figure D) is an easy-to-use WordPress plug-in that helps you manage, distribute, and validate software licenses. It's especially handy if you are a developer and need to create licenses for application distribution. The plug-in features secure license validation, license creation, license suspension, among other things.

Figure D

Although you do "publish" the individual licenses on the WordPress site, only the Admin user can see/manage them. You can add the licensee name as well as email address, so you know who holds that particular license. There's even a Generate License button that will automatically create a license number for you to use if you're a developer. The plug-in is free to use and requires WordPress 3.8 or higher.

5: LibreOffice Calc

LibreOffice Calc (Figure E) is what you want if you're looking for a free tool that anyone can use to manage licenses. It's a spreadsheet. Keep as many licenses on as many sheets as you like and save it in multiple formats (even PDF) so it can be seen and/or edited by anyone. The nice thing about adopting a standard spreadsheet app to meet this need is that you can keep track of exactly the data you want. You're not limited to the fields offers by the software designer. Just create a spreadsheet that fits your needs. You can also password protect it to prevent people from snagging your license numbers.

Figure E

If you're dealing with a vast collection of licenses and you want something more powerful than a simple spreadsheet, you can turn to the LibreOffice database tool, Base. LibreOffice is a full-blown office suite that is free and cross-platform.

Budget savers

You don't have to invest part of your software budget on a solid solution for license management. Any of these tools should help a small or midsize company keep track of software licenses without having to break the bank.

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About Jack Wallen

Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for TechRepublic and Linux.com. He’s an avid promoter of open source and the voice of The Android Expert. For more news about Jack Wallen, visit his website getjackd.net.

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Full Bio

Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for TechRepublic and Linux.com. He’s an avid promoter of open source and the voice of The Android Expert. For more news about Jack Wallen, visit his website getjackd.net.

How is software advancing 3D printing?

by Vinod Baya on November 20, 2014

 

The 3D printing revolution is a lot about hardware: the printers, the printing methods and the materials that can be used in these printers. But let’s not forget software orchestrates the digital data flows and defines the overall experience. The entire 3D printing lifecycle relies on software —from sourcing ideas and designing in three dimensions to delivering formatted data to 3D printers, and then monitoring and managing the printing process, see Figure 1.

Figure 1: In the journey from idea to artifact, 3D printing software is concentrated in four phases.

As discussed in our previous post on 3D printing, it  can be a game changer once it pivots from its current focus on rapid prototyping to printing finished products and components. Software innovations are central to this pivot as manufacturing finished products demands a higher degree of integration, automation, reliability, and repeatability.

Today, the overall 3D printing experience is challenged, but some of these challenges can be addressed by improvements in software:

Creating 3D models is hard

Most CAD solutions remain the province of highly-trained design professionals, but even they often must acquire additional skills to work successfully with 3D printers and 3D printing software.

Printers are difficult to use

Some 3D print processes can be fussy and unpredictable, requiring considerable tinkering to get the right result. Achieving consistent results on the same printer or across different printers is also difficult.

Yield, quality, and cost-effectiveness can be poor

Existing technology sometimes yields output that might have defects or does not match expectations, wasting material and increasing costs.

Software and standards do not capture and transmit complex and functional system details

The technology for 3D printing is evolving to be capable of printing complete systems that include multiple materials, integrated sensors, circuits, batteries, and so on. Most modeling software presently does not seamlessly capture and transmit all this information to printers.

Software innovations are playing a role in addressing these challenges and developments are spread across the cycle from sourcing of designs to printing of physical artifacts.

Easy access to 3D designs is becoming simpler. Ready-made designs are increasingly available from online libraries. And scanning existing objects using 3D imaging is becoming affordable, even ubiquitous. Both of these allow users to source 3D designs without using sophisticated design software. Design libraries enable users to search across hundreds of thousands of designs and then print them or customize them or adapt them for other uses. Portable 3D scanners simplify scanning of a physical artifacts and turning that into a 3D design. Some apps turn the smartphone into a 3D scanner, making 3D scanning accessible to all with smartphones and tablets.

The experience of creating designs is becoming simpler too. Radical simplification of traditional CAD solutions along with growing support for 3D interactivity in web browsers, made possible by WebGL (Web Graphics Library), means any user can use their browsers to create and manipulate 3D designs. And some innovators are developing entirely new interfaces to further simplify the creation and manipulation of 3D designs.

Still under development are software improvements capable of extending 3D model specifications to go beyond geometry or topology to include new details that specifies a complete, functional component or system. Details such as multiple materials, multiple colors, embedded sensors, embedded circuits, batteries and so on are essential before 3D printers can print finished products.

Where sophistication is being added is to software that optimizes a 3D design for printing, such as lattice generation, support generation, hollowing out designs (to save material) and so on. New functionality is also being added to software that prepares the design for printing and guides the printer during a print session for operations such as slicing, self-leveling, in-process inspection and others. The result is more of the print runs are repeatable and successful.

Ultimately, for 3D printing to transition from prototyping to legitimate manufacturing technology, it will need to interface with a company’s traditional product and manufacturing data management systems. While 3D printing is unique in that that it can go direct from engineering/design to manufacturing/production, its integration with an enterprises’ supply chain, ERP, PLM (product lifecycle management) and customer support systems will unlock a greater proportion of its overall value. We should expect developments on this front in the future.

 

AWDG Meetup Thursday July 31

>  

One my favorite pastimes is hanging out with other entrepreneurs. Even better is trying to help them answer great business questions, give tips on how to keep the business on the rails, pitch in some ideas from outside their area of expertise, and just be a part of this great community.

This Thursday night I get to hang out with a great group at the Atlanta Web Design Group meetup talking about running a business.

The Business of Design – click here for link to the Meetup

 

They have a great panel lined up, with a token accountant. We are going to be chatting about the keys to running a business (and not into the ground). I would tell you what we all had prepared, but these all depend on the audience.  Bring your best questions, because we are bringing our A game.

See you Thursday!

 

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The Iceberg Model Of OER Engagement

The iceberg model of OER engagement

I'm pretty sure I'm the first person to ever use the iceberg analogy...

I've been pondering ways of thinking about open education awareness, and OER usage that might help shape OER policy. So here's one I want to try out.

Open education in general, and OERs specifically, form a basis from which many other practices benefit, but often practitioners in those areas are unaware of OERs explicitly. It is likely that these secondary and tertiary levels of OER awareness represent a far greater audience, than the primary “OER-aware” one, so one can view the sizes of these audiences like the metaphorical iceberg, with increasing size as we push into these unseen areas. The three groups of OER usage I see are:

Primary OER usage – this group is “OER aware”, in that the term itself will have meaning for them, they are engaged with issues around open education, are aware of open licences and are often advocates for OERs. This group has often been the focus of OER funding, conferences and research, with the focus on growing the ranks of this audience.
Example: Community college teacher who adopts, and contributes to open textbooks

Secondary OER usage – this group may have some awareness of OERs, or open licences, but they have a pragmatic approach to them. OERs are of secondary interest to their primary task, usually teaching. OERs (and openness in general) can be seen as the substratum which allows some of their practice to flourish, but they are not aware, or interested in open education itself, rather in their own area, and therefore OERs are only of interest to the extent that they facilitate innovation or efficiency in this.
Example: Flipped learning teacher who uses Khan academy, TED talks and some MERLOT OERs in their teaching.

Tertiary OER usage – this group will use OERs amongst a mix of other media and often not differentiate between them. Awareness of licences is low and not a priority. OERs are a ‘nice to have’ option but not essential, and users are often largely consuming rather than creating and sharing.
Example: A student studying at university who uses iTunes U materials to supplement their taught material.

 David Wiley has talked of Dark Reuse, that is whether reuse is happening in places we can’t observe, analogous to dark matter, or it simply isn’t happening much at all. He poses the challenge to the OER movement about its aims:

“If our goal is catalyzing and facilitating significant amounts of reuse and adaptation of materials, we seem to be failing. …
If our goal is to create fantastically popular websites loaded with free content visited by millions of people each month, who find great value in the content but never adapt or remix it, then we’re doing fairly well.”

By considering these three levels of OER engagement, it is possible to see how both elements of Wiley’s goals are realisable. The main focus of OER initiatives has often been the primary OER usage group. Here OERs are created and there are OER advocacy missions. For example, Joanna Wild suggests three levels of engagement for HE staff that progress from piecemeal to strategic to embedded use of OER. The implicit assumption is that one should encourage progression through these levels, that is, the route to success for OERs is to increase the population of the primary OER group.

Whilst this is undoubtedly a good thing to do (assuming one believes in the benefits of OERs), it may not be the only approach. Another approach may be to increase penetration of OERs into the secondary and tertiary levels. Awareness of OER repositories was very low amongst this group, compared with resources such as the Khan Academy or TED. The focus on improving uptake for these groups is then to increase visibility, search engine optimisation and convenience of the resources themselves, without knowledge of open education. This might be realised through creating a trusted brand to compete with resources such as TED.

There is evidence that openness has a virus like quality, in that once people are exposed to it, awareness grows and they seek opportunities to expand open practice in other areas. If this is the case, then emphasising effort on this initial exposure should be a high priority for funders in the OER world.

Posted at 12:42 PM in oer, openness | Permalink

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Flipped Learning - Why Openness Matters Even If You Think It Doesn't

As I mentioned a couple of posts back, we've been working with the Flipped Learning network in the US. My colleague Bea De Los Arcos, has a good post about FlipCon, their annual conference. As I argued, Flipped Learning has the whiff of a commercial brand about it, but that I felt it was a useful approach for many teachers. And as Bea notes, the enthusiasm of teachers who Flip is notable, and that is surely a good thing.

In my Battle for Open book I make the argument that the direction of openness is important to all of us. But I think it's sometimes hard to make that connection to practice beyond the world of open education itself. The direction of Flipped Learning offers one such example I believe.

We've found that there was a high level of adaptation of OER by Flipped teachers, but that the range of sites they use is quite limited (YouTube, TED, Khan academy dominate). To me this suggests a picture that teachers are (obviously) time poor, so they like convenient solutions. Flipped Learning itself can be seen as a convenient solution to blended learning, and the collection of resources at somewhere like Khan is again a time-saving, convenient approach. But having found resources, teachers want to be able to blend and adapt them. We've also found support for the 'openness as virus' theory in that people tend to become likely to seek out other open resources, become aware of CC licensing, etc.

Now, given the pressure on teachers, and the desire for a convenient solution, wouldn't it be great if someone came along and offered a really good collection of resources for Flipped Teachers to use (maybe allied to the Common Core), combined with advice on how to Flip, a platform, and so on? Well, look here, Pearson have partnered with the Flipped Learning network and are offering a course on how to Flip. As it says "Contact your local Pearson Account Executive and get flipping today!"

Now, there's nothing wrong with this, in the same way that commercial companies offer solutions based on open source software, it can be part of a healthy ecosystem around the subject. But it doesn't take too much imagination to see how Flipped Learning could become a Pearson trademark, and a solution offered by them to schools. And then all sorts of things stop happening - the freedom for it to develop in a manner led by teachers, the inclination to find resources beyond those provided by Pearson, and perhaps most significantly, it stifles teachers becoming part of the broader, open community.

I think this example will be telling. For many teachers in the Flipped Network, open education isn't a primary concern, for instance they may not be aware of the term OER. But it is a substratum which allows them to operate in the manner they like. Before they know it, this openness could be undermined and replaced by a packaged, proprietary solution, and they won't even know what theyt've lost. That is why I think the battle for open is significant for all of us in education.