jaz@icd.ab.com (Jack A. Zucker) (08/17/90)
I just wanted to relate a problem I am having with Frame Technologie's so
as to help others avoid extreme frustration.
About 6 months ago, I bought a SUN Sparcstation 1. I also bought the
Framemaker 2.0 package for Sunview. Frame is licensed to the hostid
of the workstation. When I bought the package, I called Frame's tech
support people, gave them my hostid, and they gave me back a password
that would allow me to run their software. All this worked fine
until I decided to sell my Sparcstation. I sold it last week and the
person who bought it already used Interleaf and did not want to pay
for Frame. I knocked off quite a bit of money from what I was asking,
thinking that I would be able to sell Frame seperately. (Frame lists
for $2500 on the Sparcstation). I called Frame to see how their
licensing applies to this situation. To my horror, they indicated that
I could not sell the package since I was not a "Frame Reseller". I
couldn't believe it. The way they would enforce it would be to *not* give
a valid password to whoever bought the package from me. This would be
like the state not granting you a license tag for a car because you
were not the original owner. In fact, I'm not sure if this is legal.
I will be contacting the Better Business Bureau about this. I told
Frame that I would be posting this story on Usenet about two weeks ago
and they have not responded back to me on it. Apparently, I'm such an
insignificant customer of theirs, that I'm not due anything other than
what I've already received.
Frame offered the advice that I could give the software away with my
machine even though I was not getting paid for it or that I could bring
it into work and run it on my machine there. (They would be willing to
give me a new hostid license in that situation)
Anyway, anyone thinking of buying Framemaker should give this some
serious thought beforehand.
If anyone wants to E-Mail or call me for further discussion, feel
free to contact me at:
E-Mail: jaz%icd.ab.com@uunet.uu.net
Phone: (216) 646-4668 (work)
(216) 349-5881 (Home)glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us (Glenn Reid) (08/17/90)
In article <1715@abvax.UUCP> jaz@icd.ab.com (Jack A. Zucker) writes: >About 6 months ago, I bought a SUN Sparcstation 1. I also bought the >Framemaker 2.0 package for Sunview. Frame is licensed to the hostid >of the workstation. > ... > To my horror, they indicated that >I could not sell the package since I was not a "Frame Reseller". I >couldn't believe it. The way they would enforce it would be to *not* give >a valid password to whoever bought the package from me. This would be >like the state not granting you a license tag for a car because you >were not the original owner. In fact, I'm not sure if this is legal. > ... >Anyway, anyone thinking of buying Framemaker should give this some >serious thought beforehand. Since you posted this only to comp.sys.next, I feel compelled to point out that FrameMaker on the NeXT computer doesn't use a licensing scheme like the one used on Sun equipment. The product is licensed for use on a single workstation, but the password comes in the box with the product, and doesn't require the hostid to work. I don't think that the same situation could arise for the NeXT machine, although it's possible that Frame views the licensing arrangement the same way (e.g. would not support the product if you sold it to somebody else, etc). That's still a vexing situation, and I wish you luck. $2500 is a lot of money. -- Glenn Reid PostScript/NeXT consultant glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us Independent Software Developer ..{adobe,next}!heaven!glenn 415-851-1785
jaz@icd.ab.com (Jack A. Zucker) (08/17/90)
Update to the Frame problem! I got a call today and was told that the person I talked to didn't understand their policy. Apparently, the policy is that only "Frame Reseller's" can sell for a profit. Since I am not trying to sell for more than I paid for it, I can get a new hostid license for the person I sell it to. Apparently the Frame rep I had been talking to had been on vacation and tied up in various meetings and was unable to get any more information to me until today ! The moral of the story is to never underestimate the power of "the net" ! -jaz