Hello all,
For the GemStone 3.2 release and beyond we are considering tweaking the terms of the Free for Commercial Use license. For reference, the current terms are available here[1].
No changes will be made to the current terms of 2.x, 3.0.x, or 3.1.x Free for Commercial Use licenses. I repeat, no changes to license terms for 3.1.x and earlier!
Moving forward with 3.2 and beyond, we feel that the current license is too generous with respect to repository size and we also feel that the prices for upgrading the SPC size and/or purchasing technical support are too expensive.
With regards to technical support we will continue to provided free technical support via this mailing list, but as you may have noticed in recent years I have not always been quick to respond to issues and that is probably not acceptable if you are trying to run a business:)
We are considering making changes to the SPC size and/or the maximum disk size, but before finalizing any changes we want to get feedback from the community. We are hoping to provide more balanced and affordable options across the board but achieving a balance will involve changing the terms of the Free for Commercial Use license.
We realize that many of you may be affected by a reduction in the maximum repository size (currently unlimited) and/or reduction in the maximum SPC size (currently 2Gb), so we plan to introduce one or more low cost license options that will allow you to continue to run your business using GLASS. We are thinking in terms of price points for annual subscriptions with and without technical support to fill in the gap in the current licenses between the Free For Commercial Use license and the $7k/core perpetual licence[1].
As it stands today we have no way to gauge the impact on you of any changes that we might make to the license, so before finalizing any plans we want to understand how you are currently utilizing the Free for Commercial Use license. We do not want to impact any of you, but we do feel that some tightening of the license terms moving forward is called for.
We would like you to answer the following questions as best you can and send your answers to
[hidden email].
[hidden email] is a private mail alias that we have set up so that the information you share with us will be kept in complete confidence. Norm Green and I will also use this mail alias for any follow-on questions we might have for you.
1. Number of repositories in production.
2. Number of repositories in development.
3. Number of GemStone developers.
4. SPC size per repository (production/development).
5. Max size per repository in GB and OOPs (production/development).
6. Number and types of gems used in production (i.e., seaside
servers,service gems, maintenance gems).
7. Any thoughts comments that you may have in terms of desirable
products and/or pricing options from your perspective.
If you have any concerns, please contact us via the
[hidden email] mail address.
Also feel free to ask any general questions about this process on this mailing list (
[hidden email]).
We hope to start finalizing the changes to the license terms during the week of March 10th, so please get your feedback to us before that date.
We do not intend to disrupt anyone's business moving forward and the best way to ensure that is for you to provide us with feedback.
Thanks,
Dale
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