Re: Oracle database on VM Ware

Matthew,

No one knows what your Oracle License and Service Agreement (OLSA) says except the parties to whom it is bound, However, every OLSA I have seen is written in plain language as far as the law is concerned. There is nothing in the contract that says that Oracle can modify the terms of the contract at will without the consent of all bound parties. I challenge you (for the sake of every Oracle customer) to find from a publicly available OLSA any lines that could be considered, *"pointers to web pages and documents where the document states that Oracle can modify the document at will in the future and you agree to the modification without participating in discussing or negotiating the effect of the change on your organization."*

Legal precedent is pretty clear in this case. Oracle has never taken anyone to court over disputes about licensing Oracle Database on VMware. The only court case on record is when Mars Inc. filed an action against Oracle on Oct. 23, 2015. Mars then filed a motion to dismiss on Dec. 16 of the same year. The case was most likely never even brought before a judge.

The mere threat of a lawsuit regarding licensing Oracle Database on VMware appears to have put Oracle in a panic. That should offer immense comfort to customers running Oracle on Vsphere.

Seth Miller

On Wed, May 3, 2017 at 2:28 PM, Dimensional DBA <dimensional.dba_at_comcast.net
> wrote:

> That is the problem, the Oracle contract is not written in plain language,
> such as pointers to web pages and documents where the document states that
> Oracle can modify the document at will in the future and you agree to the
> modification without participating in discussing or negotiating the effect
> of the change on your organization.
>
>
>
> A lot of the legal stuff really depends on what you are wanting to do or
> incur what costs. I had a couple of friends recently go through a variety
> of lawsuits and arbitrations and in both cases the amount to pursue the
> legal path exceeded the original amount that was under dispute.
>
>
>
> From a business perspective it is not always worth fighting. Winning isn’t
> always what is cracked up to be.
>
>
>
>
>
> *Matthew Parker*
>
> *Chief Technologist*
>
> *Dimensional DBA*
>
> *425-891-7934 (cell)*
>
> *D&B *047931344
>
> *CAGE *7J5S7
>
> *Dimensional.dba_at_comcast.net <Dimensional.dba_at_comcast.net>*
>
> *View Matthew Parker's profile on LinkedIn*
> <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/matthew-parker/6/51b/944/>
>
> www.dimensionaldba.com
>
>
>
> *From:* oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org [mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_
> freelists.org] *On Behalf Of *Schneider
> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 3, 2017 5:04 AM
> *To:* Seth Miller
> *Cc:* oracle-l_at_freelists.org
> *Subject:* Re: Oracle database on VM Ware
>
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 27, 2017 at 4:54 PM, Seth Miller <sethmiller.sm_at_gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> While the responses to this thread are well meaning, many of them are
> based on the premise that Oracle has the luxury of charging its customers
> based on its own interpretation of the agreement they have with their
> customers rather than the plain language contract agreed to by both
> parties, solely because Oracle has lots of resources and *might* take you
> to court.
>
>
>
> When you sign a deed to a property or a title to a car (both of which are
> plain language contracts), is it ok for the seller to come back to you a
> couple of years later and demand you pay more money because they decide
> that the property or car was worth more than what was agreed to in the
> contract? Would you just write a check because the seller is intimidating,
> has lots of resources, and threatens to take you to court?
>
>
>
> Well I'm a middle-class white guy from rural Michigan and I won't pay on
> the car. I know I could probably leverage the courts & the cops and likely
> come out on top of this thug. But my friend on the west side of Chicago -
> who comes from an impoverished minority family - of course he's going to
> pay. What choice does he have?
>
>
>
>
>
> I have an NFS server, install the database binaries on a share, and export
> it without mounting restrictions. At this point any server on the network
> can mount the share and be contractually required to license that server.
> Do I now have to license every server on the network because I might, at
> some point in the future, mount that share on that server?
>
>
>
> How many times has Oracle taken a customer to court based on a licensing
> disagreement for Oracle Database running on Vsphere? I'll give you a hint.
> It starts with z, ends with ero and rhymes with zero.
>
>
>
> That rhyming number doesn't actually matter, does it... unless I'm the
> white guy a.k.a. 33 billion company like MARS, Inc with a legal team to
> match. For mortals like me, real world economics trump our understanding
> of whether it "should" be right or wrong...
>
>
> -J
>
>
> P.S. Farnham for President! Justice for Oracle users!
>
> --
>
> http://about.me/jeremy_schneider
>

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