License question

I did a quick search on the mailing list and didn’t really find my
answer, so I am posting it to this list…

I’d like to apologize for my lack in understanding all this license
stuff. I am not an open source developer, I am a commercial developer,
so this is the first time I have even looked to use open source software
at all.

We are a small company that develops specialized applications. We use a
development language that has its own shared file database (like
access). This is less than ideal in a lot of cases. We don’t really
charge for our software, we charge for the time we take to make the
software. Essentially, we have no product, we have a service. However,
we are a commercial for-profit entity. We have found our built in
database to be problematic and prone to index corruption. Plus the fact
when people ask us what we use, we get funny looks, and sometimes told
we can’t install that on their server because they have never heard of
it before.

We started to look at alternatives. One of those was the MSDE from
Microsoft. I started a conversion of a large customer only to find out
that we hit the 2 gig limit before it even got installed (converted
their current data). We started to look at prices of the full version of
SQL Server and the pricing is going to put it out of reach for some of
our customers. The larger ones will have no problem paying for it, but
most of our customers are small businesses that just can’t afford it. I
realize it’s a small price to pay, but you also have to realize that
with our development language, we have to charge our end users a per
user runtime fee (that gets paid to the company that makes our
development language) and a per user fee to connect to any database
other than the default (again, to the company that made our development
language). By the time we are done, a 25 user system has a per user cost
of over $5,000 for the database and the runtime fees. Then when you tack
on our fees for software modifications, this just put it out of reach
for the smaller customers. Also keep in mind; we are in process of
dumping our current language for VB.Net, simply because of these stupid
fees that our customers have to pay to the company that wrote our
development environment.

We are looking for alternatives that are reliable, fairly fast, and easy
to maintain. We immediately thought of MySQL, but the commercial
licenses have now gone to an annual subscription structure. The basic
version is fairly cheap, and very reasonable. However, the data
connector that we have to pay for to get MySQL access will cost our end
users $3500 for a 25 user system. On the other hand, we can use an ODBC
connector for $1,000, which puts it back into the somewhat affordable
range. Once it’s moved to VB.Net, all of these fees will be eliminated,
but that is pretty far off.

This brings me here. I have heard of PostGreSQL, so it’s not new to me.
But all this licensing is. And maybe you can help get some clarification
for the MySQL licensing too.

We will not be selling the database software. We may install it for
them, though. In fact, most of the time, we will be the ones to install
it, and we charge for that time. Our customers are very aware that we
did not write it, nor are we selling it. Even if they are to purchase
SQL Server, they are the ones to purchase it directly, not us. We
purchase the connectivity kits that we use to connect to the database,
and then pass that cost on to the customer. It is purchased in their
name with their information. We do not charge extra or tack on any fees.
We do it this way so that no screw ups are made… The connectivity kit is
the one that connects to the database; we connect to the connectivity
kit through our software.

Knowing all this, what do we need to purchase, what can we do and what
can’t we do? It’s hard getting a straight answer from anyone that is why
I am here. If we can’t do it, we won’t. If we can save our customers
some money while getting them really good options and software, we would
like to do that. But on the same token, we don’t to do anything unfair
or illegal.


Thank you for your time.

Aaron