Moving from SCO to Suse Linux

[Brian K. White]

John Esak wrote:
>> I somehow had a feeling I'd end up in this thread.
>>
>> If you buy BackupEDGE on SCO OpenServer, and then move to Linux or
>> UnixWare or something else, you are never forced to toss your license
>> and buy another copy at retail price.
>>
>> We don't consider this any different than upgrading to a newer
>> version of OpenServer which may also require a newer version of
>> BackupEDGE.
>>
>> We consider you a valued client and sell you a "cross platform
>> upgrade" for the same price as our standard "same platform upgrade".
>> These are also the same as an annual support agreement.
>>
>> We WILL require you to show proof of purchase of the original when
>> registering an upgrade on a different system or platform.
>>
>> We MAY require you to certify that the old platform is retired.
>
>
> This is the sticky point. How exactly can you do this? I know FacetWin
> simply trusted me over the same issue. Was very nice of them, but if
> you have hundreds and hundreds (and thousands hopefully) of
> clients... all moving to Linux boxes... why wouldn't you assume that
> hefty number of them wouldn't keep running your software on _both_
> platforms?  I think that probably happens a lot. In your case,
> probably not a big deal... being one of the best software packages
> there is... just yesterday, Jim Asman and I were saying how
> BackupEdge is simply the most important software on any system we
> run.... Anyway, not as big a deal for you because you _have_ a workig
> and reliable and usable license scheme. Perhpas, FP Tech should get
> with you for some advice.  All this is different if there is some
> accountability somewhere in the mix. Imagine if you had no
> licensing/protection on BackupEdge... I doubt _very_ much you would
> be offering the same arrangements you are now. The product is too
> good to give away to hackers and free-loaders.
>
> Tom, Rick will stop by and meet you in Vegas...
>

Our application is per-user licenced, though usually not enforced by any
arteficial bugs.
We _tell_ our customers to keep running the software on their old server
when they upgrade
hardware. The old box is usually still good as a off-site rsync or
tar-bzip2-ftp backup repository for at least another year.
Althoug no users generally use the old box once the new one is live, the
software remains fully installed and active and anyone can log in any time
and the data is just a little old.

A fair amount of users are technically exceeding the letter of their last
known user count purchase. We know, because we have ongoing _positive_
relationships with all of them. The call us to do odd jobs all the time and
in the course of that, we always know exactly how much and for what the
systems are being used.

We don't treat our customers like the enemy. Cosequently, our customers
don't hesitate to call us for a continuous stream of miscelanious IT support
and software/system customizations, and in the process, end up paying us far
more than if we used our position of knowledge & power to nail them every
time a single new PC came on-line causing them to develop a bad taste and
avoid calling us unless absolutely unavoidable.

Simple concept.

Brian K. White  --  brian at aljex.com  --  http://www.aljex.com/bkw/
+++++[>+++[>+++++>+++++++<<-]<-]>>+.>.+++++.+++++++.-.[>+<---]>++.
filePro BBx  Linux SCO  Prosper/FACTS AutoCAD  #callahans Satriani