Unfortunately, the dreaded "tier pricing" comes into play when moving licenses, especially if you are going to a more powerful machine. For example, when we bought our 979/400 (which was too new to be on the used market at the time), we paid more for the licensing related issues than for the hardware. I've been through this twice in the last few years, so I have been through the pain. Some software vendors are great and only charge a small fee, but others (i.e., one particular 4GL who will remain nameless and one backup vendor which we ended up dropping and returning to the TurboStore 7x24 we already owned) charge exorbitant fees! YMMV, but this is what I've found, especially recently.

Cynthia Bridges-Fowler
North American Salt Company
a division of Compass Minerals Group
[log in to unmask]
http://www.compassminerals.com/    

>>> "Simpkins, Terry" <[log in to unmask]> 03/15/02 11:00AM >>>
Wayne says:
>Ah! Another trap buried inside a software license.  I'm predicting that =
this
>stuff will get far worse if and when we can get MPE/iX to run on some =
other
>hardware somehow in the future.  DOWN-sizing your CPU should not =
conflict
>with your license in a logical world but lawyers write license =
agreements not
>me.


Having been through this a couple of times in various ways, I'll jump =
in.
Wayne has hit it right.
Logically you should have the right to move the software to a smaller =
machine,=20
but some vendors look for everyway possible to wring $$$ out of their =
customers.
I have adopted the attitude that they may get to legally screw me once =
(yes I=20
grasp the charged nature of that word, but I think it is appropriate), =
but I'll
make sure they never get another chance.  I suspect a couple of the s/w =
vendors
on the list will comment on how "we" agreed to the terms when we signed =
the license
and so forth, but I don't care about that, I care about what is "fair" =
and "right".
Charging me any significant amount to move the license is not ethically =
justified.
If you want a small "processing fee" to cover whatever perceived costs =
are involved
with keeping the paperwork straight, that's one thing.  But hoping to =
extract a
windfall is another.  I choose to never do business with them again, and =
tell everyone
I can about what I consider to be unethical behavior, and encourage them =
to ask
themselves: "are these the kind of people I want to deal with?".

*****************************
Terry W. Simpkins
Director ISIT
Measurement Specialties
757-766-4278
[log in to unmask]
*****************************

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