As clarification,
As of the last few weeks we have clarified and refined the "distribution license fee"
strategy for our OCX/DLL Development Tools. We attempt to license our Development
Tools on a very simple basis:
We don't charge royalties on a per seat or percentage basis for any of our Development
Tools. There is no accounting, reportng, or auditing required. Our developers find
required accounting with a royalty based scheme unacceptable. Blue Marble, as
developers of commercial software ourselves, won't purchase any developer product
where we pay for distribution on a per-seat basis. It is simply unacceptable. We are
simply unwilling to retain a team of accountants to "police" our development tool
customers.
We do require a signed distribution license agreement to specify under what terms and
conditions our components can be distributed by a developer. The agreement is very
simple, 2 pages long. In some cases we charge an annual distribution fee which
entitles developers to distribute an unlimited number of copies of their product which
embeds our component, be they updates/upgrades, free demos, or retail licenses. If
they don't ship the product, they don't pay the fee. In other cases, the development
fee is waived. This appears to be a fair compromise between a royalty-based and
royalty-free strategy.
If you have further questions you can check out our website at
http:/www.bluemarblegeo.com/devlic.htm for more information.
Thanks,
Jeff Cole
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Blue Marble Geographics
"The Geographic Software Component Company."
www.bluemarblegeo.com
261 Water Street, Gardiner, Maine 04345 USA
Voice: 207-582-6747 Fax: 207-582-7001
>> Bluemarble may say royalty free but don't expect to start selling mapping
>> applications royalty free. I received the following after attempting to
>> order one of their OCX products. I did not order the product (not because
>> of the distribution fee) but I tried their free viewer.
>> >From Bluemarble:
>> Thank you for ordering GeoObjects upgrade from GeoPoint! With the
>> purchase
>> of our development tools, we require that a distribution agreement be
>> signed. Blue Marble does not charge royalties on a per seat basis, or
>> even
>> a percentage of your sales. Instead we charge an annual fee for unlimited
>> distribution of your application. This fee is a negotiated fee, that is
>> worked out with your company. Please see below for 10 questions. Please
>> answer these questions, as accurately as possible, to help us set your
>> distribution fee.
>> Because GeoObjects is royalty free for enterprise development, you may not
>> be required to pay a distribution fee. If you plan to use the application
>> you are building internally only, please only answer questions 1, 5, 9, &
>> 10.
>> 1) What is the name of the product that this development tool will be
>> embedded in?
>> 2) How many licenses of your product do you intend to ship annually?
>> 3) How is/will your product distributed?
>> 4) How long has it been on the market?
>> 5) How many users of the product do/will you have?
>> 6) How do you price your product?
>> 7) Do you market your product on your website? If so, what is your
>> website
>> address?
>> 8) If information is not available on your website please fax or send
>> product information for our review.
>> 9) How long has your company been in business?
>> 10) What is the primary business of your company (i.e. consulting,
>> software
>> development, data services, etc.)?
>> We will fax the License Agreement directly to you as soon as we receive
>> this
>> information. Once we receive a signed agreement, we can continue
>> processing
>> your order.
>> If you have any questions please contact our office.
>> Regards,
>> The Blue Marble Team
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Bill Thoen
>> > Sent: Thursday, January 28, 1999 12:32 PM
>> > To: mapinfo
>> > Subject: Re: MI pricing for MapX
>> >
>> >
>> > Dr.Rajeev Saraf wrote:
>> >
>> > > I do not really understand the pricing for mapX. Every copy of
>> > > an
>> > > application that i distribute using VB and mapX, must also
>> > > contain a
>> > > license of mapX. It is like requiring a license of VB with a VB
>> > > application.
>> > > Why is mapX not royalty free? Is there any other company, that
>> > > provides,
>> > > activeX controls for GIS without any royalty?
>> >
>> > Annoying isn't it? This is probably why MapX development has been
>> > so slow to take off. You have to think big and get funding behind
>> > you right off the bat, or you can only play with it. This is not
>> > a model conducive to encouraging people to learn it. (But MapX is
>> > finally gathering momentum now--I'd say in general, OCX or
>> > something like it, looks like the future of Windows applications
>> > development.)
>> >
>> > I think Blue Marble has some OCX mapping tools with a more
>> > generous pricing policy. (See http://www.bluemarblegeo.com).
>> > GeoObjects is not as robust as MapX, but it does a lot in basic
>> > thematic mapping, and has no distribution fee. You might check
>> > them out (Blue Marble Geographics is also the place where you can
>> > download the free data translator, Geographic Explorer). Also
>> > check out Sylvan Maps, Chicago Map, and there's some company out
>> > there in Redlands, CA that has an OCX tool too (but they charge
>> > for it too, I believe).
>> >
>> > - Bill Thoen
>> Chuck Collins
>> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Nucomm Data, Inc.
>> (612) 591-0820
>> http://www.mnmaps.com
>> =====================
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