Re: License question[VASCL:A1077160A86] - Mailing list pgsql-general

 From my understanding of the license for Postgresql, there is no
licensing fees as long as you are not selling it yourself for a profit.
There are also free platforms to build your application on.  I am myself
exploring the use of Centos with php, postgresql, apache with ssl
running as a secure stable platform for my customer.   I think you can
do this all for free. meaning just charging for the time you use to
develop and support the application.  It  is not a fat client solution
and you will have to learn the environment, but from my exploring, this
seems to be a very viable option. Again, I have to research things such
as report writing and the like.  Hope we get other opinions on this.  I
am at this juncture myself.
Aaron Smith wrote:

> I did a quick search on the mailing list and didn’t really find my
> answer, so I am posting it to this list…
>
> I’d like to apologize for my lack in understanding all this license
> stuff. I am not an open source developer, I am a commercial developer,
> so this is the first time I have even looked to use open source
> software at all.
>
> We are a small company that develops specialized applications. We use
> a development language that has its own shared file database (like
> access). This is less than ideal in a lot of cases. We don’t really
> charge for our software, we charge for the time we take to make the
> software. Essentially, we have no product, we have a service. However,
> we are a commercial for-profit entity. We have found our built in
> database to be problematic and prone to index corruption. Plus the
> fact when people ask us what we use, we get funny looks, and sometimes
> told we can’t install that on their server because they have never
> heard of it before.
>
> We started to look at alternatives. One of those was the MSDE from
> Microsoft. I started a conversion of a large customer only to find out
> that we hit the 2 gig limit before it even got installed (converted
> their current data). We started to look at prices of the full version
> of SQL Server and the pricing is going to put it out of reach for some
> of our customers. The larger ones will have no problem paying for it,
> but most of our customers are small businesses that just can’t afford
> it. I realize it’s a small price to pay, but you also have to realize
> that with our development language, we have to charge our end users a
> per user runtime fee (that gets paid to the company that makes our
> development language) and a per user fee to connect to any database
> other than the default (again, to the company that made our
> development language). By the time we are done, a 25 user system has a
> per user cost of over $5,000 for the database and the runtime fees.
> Then when you tack on our fees for software modifications, this just
> put it out of reach for the smaller customers. Also keep in mind; we
> are in process of dumping our current language for VB.Net, simply
> because of these stupid fees that our customers have to pay to the
> company that wrote our development environment.
>
> We are looking for alternatives that are reliable, fairly fast, and
> easy to maintain. We immediately thought of MySQL, but the commercial
> licenses have now gone to an annual subscription structure. The basic
> version is fairly cheap, and very reasonable. However, the data
> connector that we have to pay for to get MySQL access will cost our
> end users $3500 for a 25 user system. On the other hand, we can use an
> ODBC connector for $1,000, which puts it back into the somewhat
> affordable range. Once it’s moved to VB.Net, all of these fees will be
> eliminated, but that is pretty far off.
>
> This brings me here. I have heard of PostGreSQL, so it’s not new to
> me. But all this licensing is. And maybe you can help get some
> clarification for the MySQL licensing too.
>
> We will not be selling the database software. We may install it for
> them, though. In fact, most of the time, we will be the ones to
> install it, and we charge for that time. Our customers are very aware
> that we did not write it, nor are we selling it. Even if they are to
> purchase SQL Server, they are the ones to purchase it directly, not
> us. We purchase the connectivity kits that we use to connect to the
> database, and then pass that cost on to the customer. It is purchased
> in their name with their information. We do not charge extra or tack
> on any fees. We do it this way so that no screw ups are made… The
> connectivity kit is the one that connects to the database; we connect
> to the connectivity kit through our software.
>
> Knowing all this, what do we need to purchase, what can we do and what
> can’t we do? It’s hard getting a straight answer from anyone that is
> why I am here. If we can’t do it, we won’t. If we can save our
> customers some money while getting them really good options and
> software, we would like to do that. But on the same token, we don’t to
> do anything unfair or illegal.
>
>
> Thank you for your time.
>
> Aaron
>
>
>
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