My thoughts around the Lotus Quickr 8.2 requirement around Lotus Domino 8.5 garnered a few interesting discussions and thoughts.
I am not a master of licensing but this strikes me as odd.
One question I posited was how does IBM license this?
I was pointed to this IBM license agreement for Quickr 8.2 by an IBMer.
As I understand it I am entitled to Domino 8.5 in order to install Quickr but not to use Domino for any other purpose?! An interesting idea since mail must flow, websites must run, both using Domino, which is already serving these purposes, does this negate the license agreement if they are not working with Quickr? Evidently, but why is IBM hampering SMB clients this way?
Are you prevented from using Domino this way thus requiring my SMB client to buy a second server for Quickr and maintain a separate server for email too?
What if they want to use Quickr now?
What if they are only on R6 right now? Does running an 8.5 server with DAOS and a names.nsf template from R6.5.x work properly?
Are you allowed to use the 8.5 template for names.nsf on your R6 server and across your domain? Or must it stay in a stand alone mode?
Or if they have an existing server, say Domino Enterprise Edition for 8.5 for example, by buying the license to Quickr 8.2 is IBM basically double billing, well let's say, double reporting licenses? Do these licenses count to the grand total announced at Lotusphere? Do IBM sales reps get these added to their commission checks and target goals?
Isn't this what Microsoft does as well that we complain about (and I have posted about)?
You can argue this is how it has always been and we should pay more careful attention to our license agreements in the future, but this, to me, just seems like something is odd. Or business as usual.
It's been a while since I was forced to ONLY use one version of a product with another.
Lastly, who thought of naming a version of Quickr which is in sync with Domino at 8.5, but call it instead the easy to remember Quickr 8.2?
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I don't see a real difference on this license vs what it was before, or actually how it is with Sametime.
ReplyDeleteYou get a license to Domino server in case you don't have one already. This covers MS shops for example.
If you're already a Domino shop and want to use a license you already have then you're free to do that as well.
I think Quickr and Sametime have always had this license. It means you can run them on one of your current servers or install it separately with it's own copy of Domino.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how this is a bad thing? If you want Domino, buy a domino server, if you want just quickr you get it.
This is how I imagined it worked for ST as well. Not surprising, and I understand the premise, really I do, been doing this for a long time.
ReplyDeleteMy issue is the specifics around requiring Domino 8.5(what other active product has such a requirement in Lotus?) and how this affects SMB clients infrastructures and what they can do to work with it or around it.
So, are you concerned about the license, or about the system requirements? True, no other products require Domino 8.5 right now, but wanting a version of Quickr with all the latest and greatest features, and expecting that to run on top of Domino 6.5 (a product coming up on 6 years old this November, and going EOS next year) is pretty unrealistic.
ReplyDeleteGreg,
ReplyDeleteThis is true, R6 is not practical, but even R8.0.x is not either any more.
The requirements are more important than the license, but I am still put off by the wording of the license agreement.
If the NAB gets updated to 8.5 does that violate the License agreement? I am just asking some practical questions around how one uses this.
Most of us don't get involved in this usually, but SMB clients ask these questions and in this case it is a legitimate gripe.
Is it a forced upgrade to their network then?
Might be a little mis-understanding: If you have *only* a Quickr licence you *can't* use the Domino functions of the Quickr server. However if you have (or buy) Domino licences, then you can do whatever you want with the Domino server. So mail/web/quickr can sit on one box, just just need licences for both. Your friendly IBM sales rep will offer you a nice bundle (and throw even Sametime in it).
ReplyDeleteStephan,
ReplyDeleteYes this is true and the express bundles did this well.
To be honest, I've got more of an issue with the fact that most of this stuff is 32 bit only, and it's refreshing to be able to have most things running on the current server release!
ReplyDeleteAs you well know it's a pain to have to use backlevel Domino to support things like Quickr & Sametime when the rest of the infrastructure is 8.5.
I suspect they've added things to Quickr 8.2 that older versions simply don't have or won't work with properly.
Sure, it's a bummer to have to upgrade and yes that is what we complain about with Msft, but at least our upgrades are really upgrades and not rip & replace...and it's not the OS we're having to replace.