Re: Oracle SE licensing question

From: joel garry <joel-garry_at_home.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:38:36 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <a3032a15-4971-4240-bb1b-619a9aff51b0_at_b38g2000prf.googlegroups.com>



On Jan 22, 9:28 am, Michelle Ryan <michelle.ryan.2..._at_gmail.com> wrote:
> Many thanks, Joel. My response is in-line below...
>

> joel garry wrote:
> > On Jan 22, 8:16 am, Michelle Ryan <michelle.ryan.2..._at_gmail.com>
> > wrote:
>
> > 1.  google for Oracle XE.  It's free, but certain limitations, I
> > haven't checked when it will be out for 11g.  It's designed to be a
> > direct competitor for the free sql server thingee, whatever that is.
> > I take it that's what you mean by Express, why exactly is it not
> > acceptable to you?
>
> Express Edition or XE won't be acceptable since we need to develop/test
> on larger than 4 GB databases.

Fair enough.

>
> > 2.  Be sure you understand the oracle versioning.  If you are talking
> > about the database, you mean 11g.  If you are talking about Oracle
> > applications, that's another whole ball of worms and some cans of wax.
>
> You are right. I should have said 11g

When you start actually doing stuff and have specific questions, be sure and be real specific about which version you have, like 11.1.0.6.0

>
> > 3.  You can get real cheap basic support.  Eventually you will want
> > real support, which should be based on your production needs.  You
> > need support to get patches.  You need patches to make production
> > quality databases.
>
> Is it possible to buy support (in order to get patches) even if we use a
> free developer license (instead of a production release kind of full
> cost license)?

Terry Dykstra's answer applies here. I hesitate to say anything, as things change with little warning, but I will say Oracle appears to be tightening up on their monitoring of who has what and what they can see to download. They do have a helpful patch update system where your database converses with Oracle corp.

In some cases, salespeople will threaten you with an audit. But see link below.

> > 4.  Since I see SE1 isn't acceptable, you must understand which
> > options you need?  Could you let us in on that?
> >http://www.oracle.com/database/product_editions.html
>
> Looking at the above link, my impression is that perhaps SE1 would be ok
> for us. However, people around here seem to insist that we should
> develop/test on Standard Edition since that is what our customers would
> be using.

There's something to be said for making your systems as close as possible to your customers, especially with newer versions that may have obscure bugs.

>
> > There have been myths floating around about things this lets you trip
> > over, but basically, if you are just developing, download whatever you
> > want and develop!
>
> We've been told that a free developer license, that you get after free
> registration and download, prohibits other developers (even if they are
> in the same team and site) to connect to your database. I'd be
> interested in your take on that.

I dunno, google around, but beware, like I said, there are myths floating about. This one seems hinky to me, connectivity is the foundation of Oracle. Read the licensing agreement that comes before the download. Note that each download is a new agreement for the computer being downloaded to. Note particularly that the conclusion in the LewisC blog post that you need a license for dev is just plain wrong:
http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/oracle-guide/does-oracle-require-a-license-for-a-development-database-26422#2298391

>
> Thanks for the support - I really appreciate it.

That makes me feel good! :-)

jg

--
_at_home.com is bogus.
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Received on Thu Jan 22 2009 - 12:38:36 CST

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