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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