1-2 vs unlimited licenses (Unix for a 386)

[Dick Dunn]

pcg at thor.cs.aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) writes:

> My dim remembrance is that the AT&T royalty is (depending on
> volume) under $50 for 1-2 users and under $150 for unlimited
> (complete system, I think)...

I don't know the exact numbers either, so we ought to check that before
going too much farther.  Remember that this is for the V.3.2 licensing.

>...Note that the entire AT&T royalty is under 10% of the 386/ix
> selling price, i.e.  just a fraction of the likely margin that
> ISC has on it.

I think you may have a somewhat exaggerated idea of our margins...but be
that as it may.  The AT&T royalty itself looks small, but that's what we
pay AT&T--so it's an unburdened cost.  To analyze the proportion of cost
due to AT&T royalty fairly, you need to refigure with some magical margin
multiplier (which I don't know and certainly couldn't quote in public even
if I did).  I don't think this explains all the difference, though I won't
know until we have the real license costs.

>...	Has by any chance ISC hacked the protocol recognized by the X
> 	server so that it is now compatible only with their
> 	libraries, incidentally destroying interoperability?

No.  But there's more than a hint of contentiousness in that question; why
do you ask it that way?  (Is it just that you think for the price we
charge, we must have screwed around with it?:-)  Is there some reason to
doubt that our X software would interoperate with others?

> 	Otherwise, is there any *compelling* technical reason
> 	to buy the X library binaries from ISC for $795 instead
> 	of getting the sources with which everybody is already
> 	quite pleased from any friend for free?

If you don't think we've added value in what we provide--or, for that
matter, if you don't think what we've added is worth the price--then go
ahead!  I don't think that anyone in ISC is going to quarrel that you've
got a free choice there; I'm not even going to try a hard sell.  I would
suggest that you spend a little time to see what you'd get from us and
whether it's of sufficient value to you.
-- 
Dick Dunn     rcd at ico.isc.com    uucp: {ncar,nbires}!ico!rcd     (303)449-2870
   ...Are you making this up as you go along?