Solutions for Viewing VIs

[EricR]

Many of you have posted recently that NI's change to subscription software creates a challenge viewing VIs outside of an active subscription.  While it was never NI's intention to create this challenge, NI has listened to you and is responding with the following change. Effective immediately, the NI EULA has been updated to allow the LabVIEW Community Edition to be used as a "viewer" for all VIs. This change does not affect LabVIEW Community Edition use for DEVELOPMENT tasks.

This solution satisfies all the requirements NI has gathered and has the advantage of being immediately available for people to use.

I'm attaching the new EULA to this thread. The attached EULA is "official" and can be referenced by any company that wants to make sure it is in compliance.  The online NI EULA and shipping NI EULAs will all be updated in Q1 2023 with the next software release.

NI may also release additional software solutions related to the ability to "view" source code at a later date.

The section in the EULA you are looking for is "Addendum F" and under that, look for the section on the "Community Edition".   In there, the following language was added:

"Notwithstanding the terms set forth in the Agreement or Source Code License, upon termination of your Subscription License, you may use the Community Edition only to view VI files and other content created using LabVIEW, for other purposes than the purposes listed in this section above. It shall be clarified that any creation, edit or developments of such content shall be subject to the limitations set forth above"

{Edit 10/17/2022 - updated EULA to "released" version}

{Edit 10/27/2023 - adding language to look for in the EULA here for clarity}

[altenbach]

So far I only dared to install the community edition on a clean VM because I am unsure how it interacts with the presence of older pro versions, drivers, and such.

By default, the community edition installs with a lot of extra stuff (e.g. Hobbyist toolkit, various runtimes, visa, pal, etc. I fact NIPM shows 40 items as "installed"!). As somebody who uses LabVIEW almost hardware-free (computations, algorithms, etc.), I would prefer the availability of a barebones community edition, that does not install any drivers and such. I have not tried to remove any of these extra items and if that would work.

EDIT: If I for example try to uninstall the Hobbyist toolkit, It also wants to uninstall "LabVIEW Community", which I really want to keep. Too entangled.....

Sorry, I really don't remember what choices I had when first installing the community edition.

[altenbach]

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@altenbach wrote:

EDIT: If I for example try to uninstall the Hobbyist toolkit, It also wants to uninstall "LabVIEW Community", which I really want to keep. Too entangled......

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So what exactly is "LabVIEW Community", because there is also a "LabVIEW (32bit) english"??

Can I uninstall it and still have 32 bit LabVIEW available?

Maybe I am just too paranoid. 😮

[wiebe@CARYA]

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@EricR wrote:

I'm attaching the new EULA to this thread. The attached EULA is "official" and can be referenced by any company that wants to make sure it is in compliance.  The online NI EULA and shipping NI EULAs will all be updated in Q1 2023 with the next software release.

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The 3 license types seem to be generic.

Is this applicable for the Community Edition?

Which license is the Community Edition? Named User License, Computer-Based License, or Home Usage Exception.

Do users register by name, so they can only install on "three (3) computers in a single workplace of one (1) individual"?

Or by Computer, so they can only install on "one (1) computer in your workplace"?

Or is the Community Edition a "Home Usage Exception"? It isn't, because "Home Usage Exception" is when "you are a business or other entity".

[wiebe@CARYA]

"You must include the following copyright notice in the Authorized Application's About Box (if applicable)"

Is still very silly.

If I have an "Authorized Application's About Box" I have to include a copyright but I "may instead, or in addition, include your own copyright notice with the notice required above".

If I don't have an "Authorized Application's About Box" this doesn't apply?

So, 3 options:

No About Box,

About Box with LabVIEW copyrights,

About Box with my own copyrights.

Guess I won't have an "Authorized Application's About Box", just to be sure ...?

[wiebe@CARYA]

"You may not use NI's name, logo, or trademarks to market your Authorized Application without NI's
express prior written permission"

So, we need permission for any application that doesn't have a custom icon?

Where do I send the request 😎??

[dkfire]

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@EricR wrote:

...

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What about RT and FPGA code? 

Currently LabVIEW CE does not support Realtime or FPGA module. 
How do you view these projects?

[paul_cardinale]

Hopefully most of us serious LabVIEW users will never move beyond LV 2021; resulting in virtually no need to ever look at LV 2022+ code.

[JÞB]

@EricR

Thank you,   NI, surprised the community with the changed license.   I know that I will not renew my Alliance Partner subscription at the new 250% rate for a single Seat!  Certainly not without a Certified LabVIEW Consultant logo! (& polo shirt)

Recorrecting the course change against the drift, is courageous.   Thank you again.

[BertMcMahan]

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@JÞB wrote:

Thank you,   NI, surprised the community with the changed license.   I know that I will not renew my Alliance Partner subscription at the new 250% rate for a single Seat!  Certainly not without a Certified LabVIEW Consultant logo! (& polo shirt)

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I don't want to derail the thread too much, but does anyone have a current link to the info on Partner subscription price increases? All of the links I can find are broken (this page, for example, just redirects me on all of the links I clicked: https://www.ni.com/en-us/support/documentation/supplemental/18/ni-alliance-partner-software--srl--fr...)

Edit: Oh, and going to my profile then clicking the link to Renew just redirects me to the info page for NI's move to subscription software. I have no idea how to renew my software, or to find out how much it will cost me so I can inform management.