Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!um-math!sharkey!cfctech!teemc!hpftc!zardoz!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ucla-cs!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!bionet!apple!cambridge.apple.com!alms From: alms@cambridge.apple.com (Andrew L. M. Shalit) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Allegro Common Lisp licensing fees Message-ID:Date: 30 Aug 89 20:14:50 GMT References: <4872@merlin.usc.edu> <939@mrsvr.UUCP> Sender: news@cambridge.apple.com Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cambridge, MA Lines: 40 In-reply-to: hallett@shoreland.uucp's message of 29 Aug 89 18:36:11 GMT >>The licensing is similar to MacApp. I believe the cost is $100 per >>year. This gives you the right to distribute as many copies of as >>many applications as you like. Note that the applications do -not- >>include the compiler. If you need to include the compiler, then >>you need to be a VAR, with more complicated contracts and terms. >Ok, this may be a dumb question, but, how are they gonna know? How are they going to know what? 1) That you're distributing applications? They won't know, but if you do it without paying the $100, you're breaking the law. (It's the same deal as LSP software having to acknowledge that it was written in LSP.) 2) Know whether the compiler is included? It's simple: when you make a stand-alone application, the compiler is automatically removed. >Isn't this really kinda ridiculous? Apple wants people to write >software for the Macintosh, but they charge people liscensing fees to >use their compilers and skeletons. >[various extended flames about Apple selfishness deleted] When Macintosh Allegro Common Lisp was sold by Coral (i.e. before Apple purchased it), the licensing fees were much higher. The cost was between $30 and $60 for every copy of your application which you sold or gave away. When Apple purchased the Lisp, they lowered the price, bundled in some tools which Coral had sold as add-ons, and lowered the licensing cost to a annual fee. As a point of reference, most other Common Lisp vendors (Sun, Lucid, Gold Hill), charge a per-copy fee for run-time licences. Apple has one of the lowest costs in the business, if not the lowest. They mostly just want acknowledgment -andrew Disclaimer: I used to work for Coral, now I work for Apple, I wish everything was free and no one had to earn a living, and my opinions are my own, not my companies.