Possibly proof of Kevin's point about "dumping" is that Oracle posts
only it's newest software for free download. The older stuff that is
now "desupported" (a.k.a. "finally ready for production usage" thus no
longer needing support) is not available for free download. :-)
That is in contrast to the fact that Oracle used to pack all it's
floppies, tapes, and CDs with the old desupported software; perhaps on
the principle of "it's not worth anything, so here it is", perhaps?
Of course, there are always those old CDs and even floppies lying
around, gathering dust. I think Carel-Jan still has a working copy of
Oracle v4 on 8-inch diskettes? Running on MS-DOS under VMware, no?
Back during the fin de siecle, National Geographic magazine published
an editorial about how people save those pretty yellow magazines. They
estimated that, at the rate at which National Geographic magazines are
purported to be hoarded in households, the combined weight of
accumulated magazines would surpass that of the earth around the year
2350 or so (I really don't remember the exact year they quoted). Based
on what I've seen in hundreds of IT shops over the years, I suspect
that same is true of old Oracle software and documentation...
Kevin Closson wrote:
But your point is still valid: Neither IBM nor MS will let you download
a
really usefull copy of their software (DB ones, I mean) without paying
for the
licence. Oracle does, and they do not seem to be bothered by the
undisclosed
use.
…I
think it is a product dumping play. The Japanese electronics sold in
the states
in the 80s cost about 3 fold more in Japan. The product dumping
was
underwritten by “loyal customers” if you will. Once the product
acceptance wratched up, so did the price. I think Oracle is doing the
same
thing. If any reasonable number of the production sites around the
world
(emerging markets) using unlicensed stuff grew to the point of making
it on
Oracle’s radar, they’ll eventually have to pay. Or, they’ll
run out of workarounds for problems and then be forced to pay up to get
a patch…
--
//www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
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