Use of Rstudio Desktop on Windows Server with RDP legal?

[Waschtl]

Hi everybody,

I am a researcher at a public, non-profit research institution and I would like my IT department to install (free) RStudio Desktop for a couple of users on a Windows Server, which I can access with a Remote Desktop Connection. I know that it's technically feasible, but is this legal and covered by the AGPL v3 licence to install (free) RStudio Desktop for a couple of users on a Windows Server with RDP access? I can't find anything in the licence that says it would be prohibited to use on a server. Furthermore I don't see that the use of RStudio Desktop would be restricted to non-commercial use (to be clear: we entirely use Rstudio for non-commercial research which may be funded by research funding organizations).

I can't find anything that says it's prohibited

Thanks for all your answers in advance.

P.S.: Yes I am aware about the R Studio Server editions, but the Open Source edition is not an option because it only runs on Linux and RStudio Workbench is simply too expensive even with the academic discount and given that we have to provide access for multiple users. Furthermore this is a test and if it is successful we probably will switch to a commerical licence in the future because the capabilities are simply better.

[jonathan]

IANAL but this is fine under the AGPL. The AGPL kicks in when you try to build a service on top of the IDE which you aren't doing here, and we know of a number of organizations that are doing more or less exactly what you are.

It is also possible to run RStudio Server open source on a Windows machine using WSL2 (though it's DIY and not supported). https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360049776974-Using-RStudio-Server-in-Windows-WSL2

[Waschtl]

Dear Jonathan,
thank so much for this answer. It helps me a lot.
Best,
Sebastian