[CLUE-Talk] What's with Microsoft's upgrade ultimatum?

[Jeffery Cann]

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On Tuesday 15 May 2001 22:04, David Anselmi wrote:
> Why shouldn't MS license their software on an annual basis?  
> Other big packages (Oracle?) are done that way. 

Oracle gets you to upgrade because they quickly stop supporting previous 
versions.  If you no longer want support, but still want to use your Oracle 
database, you do not have to pay Oracle.

This is not a forced upgrade per se, but many PHBs freak out if there is no 
support available from the vendor.  I mean, how could all of our DBAs keep 
their jobs if they weren't installing and testing Oracle upgrades every few 
months?

The irony is that the 'support' by Oracle (and most vendors, IMHO) is 
terrible.  It is support in a sense if "we feel your pain, but cannot 
alleviate it".  Not in the sense of "you have a problem that we created, and 
we are going to fix your problem".

I have worked with Oracle, building applications for over 5 years.  I have 
found several bugs in their software and not once have they fixed a bug that 
I have found.  Most of the time you call "support", it goes like this:

1.  You have a problem.
2.  Support guy sees that its a problem, but won't admit it really is.  He 
asks for test case, because he can't easily reproduce it.
3.  You send test case.  It may take a day to code a simple test case, 
because you cannot send them your entire application, so you have to boil it 
down to the simplest example.
4.  Support guy says: we'll have our senior people look at it.
5.  You (with a deadline) figure out a way to work around the bug.  You do 
this because even if Oracle does admit it is a bug (rare), they won't fix it. 
 If they do fix it, it will not be available to you for months, maybe years. 
Mind you, all of this running around costs your company a lot of time (in 
some cases _weeks_ of development time) and therefore costs money.
6.  In the interim, no info from from Oracle support.
7.  You call them back and tell them the workaround in hopes that when some 
other poor sap runs across the bug, that the Oracle support guy can tell him 
about the workaround and save his company time and money.

>They (and most commercial
> software companies) have been selling licenses (right to use the
> software under their terms) for a long time.  Buying a CD with software
> on it is different than buying a book, or even a music CD.  Maybe now
> people will start to realize that.

How is software different than a book or CD?  You state that they are 
different but give no reason(s).  I would be interested if you would provide 
your thoughts.

IMHO, the only reason people think it is different is because that is why the 
software companies have been pounding into your PHB tiny pea brain.  If I buy 
something, I _own_ it.  It is that simple.  I can do with it as I wish.  Most 
software companies (like CDs or books) have copy restrictions.  This 
restriction does not make a software program fundamentally different than 
some other product.  It just means that software companies do not want people 
getting their product for free, which is fine with me.  

Given all of the other strings attached to fee-based software, I prefer to 
use software that falls under the GNU license.   If anything, at least there 
is real support for free software.  Hell, I can fix my own bugs (and I have), 
which is faster and cheaper than coding a workaround and I help the free 
software community.  Not a bad deal.

Later,
Jeff
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