The difference is that licenses for pharmaceuticals, driving, etc all have some benefit to the public good. Whether that be not including arsenic in your pills or knowing which side of the road to drive on, it is beneficial for society to have you be licensed (also, those licenses are almost exclusively granted or required by the GOVERNMENT and do not really enter in to the discussion). Another way of viewing this is that those license grant an expansion of rights (or a privelege) normally restricted for the common good. Software licenses do not follow this analogy.
I believe they do. They are a mechanism to facilitate (limited) sales and the economic aspects of immaterial property - which are all regulated and enforced by the laws of society. Or in other words: immaterial property, licenses, and financial transactions are the three components of "software license sales" and they are provided/enforced by society because politicians believe they provide a benefit to society.
but I sure as heck can sell the license and the 'physical' bits that go with it as long as they are transferred to the new owner (i.e. I no longer have them).
First of all the fact that you "no longer have them" is not a transfer. A transfer is only possible if the license or local law grants you the right to do so. In the case of DVDs and Sodastream canisters I am confident local law grants you the right to pass them on. But do not mistake the ability to physically transfer an object for an actual "right" to transfer any licenses.
Digital makes this all quite convoluted, but if these were physical BD/DVD/CDs, no one would bat an eyelash (cf. music CDs, console games) because the license is more obvious when accompanied by a physical item.
Yes and no. I am pretty sure the only reason BD/DVD/CDs can be transferred us because local law grants consumers that right. But that is not the case with all things. For example, if you buy a license - including a DVD and a pile of manuals - for some advanced software, then the license to use that software may not be transferable to other users. This is common with lots of software like database applications, media editing suites, software development tools, server software, etc. The fact that physical media and manuals accompany the product is not sufficient to grant you the right to transfer the license UNLESS laws specifically grant you that right.
- Jesper