On Mon, May 05, 2003 at 04:33:20PM -0700, Hunter Wylie wrote:
Shareholders would have a real problem with NetApp putting their software in basically the public domain.
I think it would be possible to have a "home user" or "noncommercial" license program for people who have obtained filers second-hand, and only want a working (and legal) OnTAP license, with no support contract.
Some corporations license their software to home users as an additional revenue stream. This is because so many non-legal copies are out there already and LINUX based substitutes are going after the same low dollars.
You *really* think that that's why HP/Compaq and Sun have the Tru64 Hobbyist, OpenVMS Hobbyist, and Free Solaris programs? I'd say its's because these companies have realized that if a person can obtain a license to legally work with their software/hardware at home, they're more likely to want to use the same hardware/software at work, and therefore possibly produce a revenue stream that way.
It *is* possible to have a free or reduced-cost licensing program for older, obsolete versions of a software product that is no longer being actively marketed, without putting the product into "basically the public domain". Hobbyist users can have license agreements too.
What would happen if the software ended up running on every PC that was a wanna-be file server?
That's the thing - OnTap *does not* run on "every PC that was a wanna-be file server". It runs on specific NetApp hardware. Sure, the F85/F87 are just slightly-changed Dell boxes (AFAIK), but I don't know that it is possible to take OnTAP for those machines and run it on "generic" hardware.
I can see both sides of the argument - but I think that NetApp really needs to have a program where owners of older, end-of-lifed (but still perfectly usable) hardware can legally obtain a license for whatever the last verison of OnTap was for their product, as long as they agree to use it in a home/hobbyist role only and understand that it does not come with service or support.
I've got a nice 520 system with four drive shelves. It's sitting in my living room right now, until I rack it up and configure it in a couple of days. I've got NFS licenses that will work on it with OnTAP 5.3.7R3, but it would be nice to have fully legal licenses for playing around with at home, instead of knowing that I can't officially use the license code that came with the machine from its original owner.
I'm thrilled to finally have a working setup at home, but would love to be fully licensed for what I've got. As someone mentioned in an email to me earlier today, "NetApp's probably got you on their radar" after I asked about hobbyist licensing. Sure! If someone from NetApp wants to contact me and help figure out how I can get a legal license for OnTAP that they don't want $10K for, or work out details of a hobbyist/home-experimental-user licensing program, please do!
Anybody interested in a toasters-at-home or older-toasters mailing list? I'm willing to host and maintain it.
Bill