Re: The selling of downloads on auction sites!

    It's not that complicated since Oracle is the most generous software company in the world in this regard. If you use the software for commercial purposes you buy the appropriate license. If you want to download software (or better yet buy a CD pack) to learn about Oracle products as a developer the fee is zero or minimal.

    It seems to me the test of buying on Ebay is what the purchaser does with it. If he's a developer it's no different from downloading the software from Oracle. He doesn't need a license. If he plans to use the product commercially he needs to buy a license.

    If he plans to cheat by using the Ebay version commercially without a license, he could do that with a downloaded version anyway.

    In the end, I cannot imagine anyone knowledgeable buying the software on Ebay. What would you possibly gain? Downloads are free while a 10-20 CD pack is $49.95.

    I have many quarrels with Oracle's products and practices - but as developers we should all be grateful that we can keep our skills up to date and learn the latest versions of anything at little or no cost.

Van

"descmath" <kevind_at_descmath.com> wrote in message news:svma9u3jd3n7f3_at_corp.supernews.com...
> I do not know what people are selling on EBay. But as I recall, Oracle
> will let company's transfer ownership of licenses. As for the downloading
> of the software, that sounds a bit off as well. Again, when I last asked
> Oracle about this, they said that you could install a copy of Oracle on a
> machine to test or develop software, but you had to buy a license if you
> used the product for any inhouse or web production system.
>
> The last Oracle License nazi I spoke with did not charge any thing for our
> development instance, only for the production instances. They also said
> that they did not care where you got the software from, just so long as
> you paid for the licenses.
>
> But who really knows how Oracle licenses work. Everyone you talk to gives
> a different story.
>
> kd
>
> sorry about rambling. DB2, SQL Server and MySQL all cost substantially
> less than Oracle right now--and their license models make sense.
>
> CompCnsult wrote:
> >
> >
> > Some time ago I posted a message asking about the legality of purchasing
 and or
> > selling the downloaded software on eBay. Most of the responses I
 received were
> > 'sure its legal'.
> >
> > Well here is the answer I received from Oracle and just thought I would
 share
> > it with everyone:
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > What the people are doing on EBay is illegal...whether or not the
 software
> > works is another story. Our legal department is well aware as to what
 is going
> > on...the software for sale or through OTN can be used only in a
 developmental
> > environment. Any time that someone wants to sell a product or deploy
 it, they
> > will have to purchase a full license.
> > If you purchase a CD from the Oracle Store or through our Technology
 Track
> > program, you will get a full guarantee of product.
> >
> > Regards,
> > OTN
> >
> >
> > Thanks for reading my message,
> > Chuck'
>
>
> --
> Posted via CNET Help.com
> http://www.help.com/
Received on Sun Oct 29 2000 - 12:20:26 CST