Oracle has a section of its website called the Oracle Technology Network, or OTN for short, where it showcases its software, tools and information. I used the site to download Oracle products, such as its namesake database or its decently useful tool, SQL Developer.
I assumed that like many other technology companies, OTN provides products to developers for use for development only, so I can develop for my clients on a real Oracle 10g or 11 without having to actually buy it and then throw it away when the next client uses SQL Server or MySQL. I honored Oracle with my real email address, real name and contact information which I felt I owed the company for giving me its products to work with.
Last Wednesday this ended up with an innocuous enough sales call from Oracle. The guy was wondering how I was using the products I downloaded and I mentioned that I downloaded 10g to develop a solution for a client. The sales guy than shared with me that OTN is not a use-for-development necessarily site, but SOME products actually have a 30-day limit on their license. Oracle 10g and 11 in particular. I was suprised and disappointed, because the OTN license starts with the words:
LICENSE RIGHTS We grant you a nonexclusive, nontransferable limited license to use the programs only for the purpose of developing a single prototype of your application, and not for any other purpose. If you use the application you develop under this license for any internal data processing or for any commercial or production purposes, or you want to use the programs for any purpose other than as permitted under this agreement, you must contact us, or an Oracle reseller, to obtain the appropriate license.
Which looks great – I am just using the product for development. BUT the bottom of this license ends with:
Trial Programs Included With Orders
We may include additional programs with an order which may be used for trial purposes only. You will have 30 days from the delivery date to evaluate these programs. Any use of these programs after the 30 day trial period requires you to obtain the applicable license. Programs licensed for trial purposes are provided “as is” and we do not provide technical support or any warranties for these programs.
No one really tells you WHICH of the programs are for trial purposes only, but hey, they can. This is vague enough to have confused me and it did and a quick look at the Oracle forums confirms the sales guy’s assertion. The alternative is to spend $2,000 to become an Oracle partner (per year) or just use Oracle Express Edition which is free and is limited by the fact that it will run on a single processor and have data files smaller than 4 GB. Not a problem but still pretty lame to not call the download outright a *30 day trial version*. Lame. Boo to Oracle.
