What is an EULA?
EULA stands for End User License Agreement. Every time you install software you are asked to accept the EULA. The EULA is full of restrictions on how, where, and on what machines you can use the software. It may also give the software vendor permission to inspect the use of their software on your network and also allows them to pursue any legal action against anyone who breaks the EULA, but I am no lawyer. I have yet to read an EULA from beginning to end. I have heard stories of some spyware software companies where their EULA gives them permission to install whatever they want on your computer. The unfortunate thing is that you get a different EULA for each piece of software you install from every company. It is unreasonable to believe that you could provide the time (or experience) to read each one and then understand what they actually say. So to be on the safe side, use your software legitimately and only from legit software companies.
To understand the EULA, you should understand some basic things about the law of copyright. The law relating to Copyrights is the same law which protects such assorted and unrelated things like books, audio recordings, songs, drawings and paintings, speeches, dramatic performances and even a collection of works created by others. You can always purchase a copy of one of these things (huh? Copy? Even the original, in case of manuscripts and paintings). Once you get a copy, you are free to do just about any thing you want with your copy. But that is not how the software industry does business. They will only license, not sell you a copy. Historically speaking, the license was intended for other things than what it is now being used now by the software vendors. Along with the mechanism of assignment, licenses enabled the original author(s) to fully utilize rights under the law of copyright. Thus, an author could, if he felt that it is more beneficial to him, either transfer all his rights
