What is a Software License?

A license is an agreement between the user and the software publisher which outlines terms of use of a software product. A software license grants you the legal right to use a piece of software. For each software program you use, you need a license, granted to you and documented in the license agreement.

All official Microsoft software will contain a license agreement, called an End User License Agreement (EULA). If you work for a company that has delegated software acquisition and management to a systems administrator, the systems administrator should be able to supply you with proof that your software is legally licensed. If you acquired your software from a store, via mail order, or even from an individual, and a EULA did not accompany the product, you may have received unlicensed software.