It almost gets to the point that one looks at the licensing and upgrade fees
as a major decision maker in software purchases; choosing a 'good enough'
product over one that does more simply because the upgrade fees aren't as
onerous.
Sigh.
Don Harrington
Sr. Systems Analyst
Facilities Applications Support
Shared Services Group
The Boeing Company
P.O. Box 3707 M/C 6C-AK 2R-32 as of 3/20
Seattle, WA 98124-2207
(v) 425-234-1145 (f) 425-234-0464 (p) 206-797-6360
(v) 206-544-5679 (f) 206-544-5788 as of 3/20
The opinions expressed in this e-mail reflect those of the sender. They do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Boeing Company unless
specifically stated otherwise.
-----Original Message-----
From: Cynthia Fowler [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 9:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] Question
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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