Matlab home use. Not for research. What does that mean?

What does:

Home License -- for personal use only. Not for government,

academic, research, commercial, or other organizational use.

mean when it says "research"? What if I am at home doing research for personal

use? Was that not intended by the word "research"? Is there a specific type of research

that is excluded here? what does research imply? A person at a university, etc?

Can I do research at home so to speak? Thanks

[Zach]

Based on the byzantine way tha MATLAB is licensed, I don't use it when I'm not forced to do so. I can by a "Student" license for $49, but I can't use the "Home" license ($149) to do my academic homework? Phfft.

Better to support Octave and the like, unless you need the toolboxes.

(Sorry Mathworks. Keep up with the times on licensing and you'll do better with the small guys.)

[Walter Roberson]

@Zach

Are you aware that the purpose of Octave is to literally put Mathworks out of business (unless Mathworks open-sources everything, which would probably be impossible as Mathworks licenses software from other companies.)

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

You cannot use MATLAB Home license to research for publication or for incorporation into any business product (including Not For Profit organizations), or for course work.

You can use it for personal hobby interests.

If you are thinking in terms of contributions to Open Source, you should probably ask Mathworks.

If you are thinking about writing up a presentation for (say) Amateur Paleontologists Of American conference, then you should probably ask Mathworks.

If you are exploring some topics related to your professional or academic career, topics that might or might not pan out, so any payout is uncertain, and you happen to notice that Home license is less expensive than the license you use in your work, then it is likely that the Home license is not appropriate for the situation.

[NJ77]

So you're saying, if I am both taking a course AND wanting to use matlab for home use/learning/etc then I have to have BOTH the home license and the student license? You would think the home license, since its more, at $150, would also include course work use, since the student license cost is only $49.

Maybe Matlab would see this post and think kindly towards letting home use license also use it for course work since some students who are taking classes would want a license to keep exploring/learning/etc after their classes are over.... so they would want to spend more on the home license over the student license, two birds with one stone, and not have to pay twice for the same product.... you see what I'm saying?

anyway, thanks

[Walter Roberson]

Coursework is not considered personal use, as the topic of the assignments and significant details are controlled by the professor l. In many cases, even the courses themselves are mandatory towards a particular degree. (I had no interest in Complex Analysis but it was required for my degree for example.)

Answer 2

[Steven Lord]

If you want an official answer about whether the way you plan to use the software is compatible with the Home license and/or the Student license I recommend you ask this question of Customer Service using the Contact Us button (the telephone icon) in the upper-right corner of this page.