On 3 Apr 2001, at 12:30, Don Schoeman wrote:

> I was under the impression that Borland was going to stop the user licensing
> scheme on Interbase. I feel I was put under the wrong impression. What are
> the Firebird people going to do in this regard. Are they also planning to
> follow the user licensing scheme?

Definitely not ! And how we can do that, anyway ? It's not easy
even for Borland, because they must try to lock future IB
improvements into private, closed source tree at one side and
discourage people from Open Source version(s). And only Borland
possess few advantages that allow them to try that. People in
Firebird project operate in open environment under public scrutiny,
so there is no room or demand for secret source tree nor hidden
agenda. That is, Firebird will collapse without openness and
collaboration, so don't worry.

Even if Firebird (or anyone) have power to do that, the Borland's
marketing strategy is IMHO very dumb, and doesn't make sense
when Open Source is on the table. When Borland's trying to put
the genie back in the bottle, it's better for Firebird (and anyone) to
take an advantage from that, rather to be second in the line after
Borland. It would be very stupid for anyone to try sell "yet another
InterBase" under the same conditions as Borland without
advantage Borland possess (money, name recognition, integration
with dev. tools etc.). To be honest, Borland's marketing strategy is
great stimulation for Firebird project and many companies to follow
the Open Source track and use different business strategies based
on OS just because Borland left very big hole in market. So, be
prepared for hailstorm :)

Best regards
-- Pavel Cisar

Firebird - The most addictive database
http://firebird.sourceforge.net