Here's a quick follow-on to yesterday's post about Central capacity licenses. I suggest a blanket Central Runtime License for businesses instead of per-App licensing.
A company could pay $2000 per 100 (or whatever) to run any and all biz apps on the Central infrastructure internally. Each app could then be distributed internally for free by internal developers, or purchased from external developers on a standard try/buy license.
Certain apps could be classified as "business apps." These would only be allowed to run inside of Central if a Central Runtime License had been activated.
Macromedia would benefit from this scheme because companies have to pay more up-front (just like capacity licensing), plus they pay extra for externally-developed apps. However if they develop their own apps internally they don't pay more. This removes a major objection that internal developers have to the current capcity license scheme: it just seems wrong to have to pay extra to deploy apps that you built yourself!
This also improves the opportunities for independent developers to crack the business market. A large up-front license fee is a big barrier for smaller app providers.
It's far easier to initially sell an app to a business at $25 per user than it is to sell it for a $2000 minimum up-front fee. This is especially true with a new and somewhat experimental technology that businesses will be reluctant to adopt wholesale.
If the up-front Runtime License cost can be spread over many future applications then cost-justification is much easier for the purchaser, and app sales should improve across the board.
A post today at centralmx.com says that a new licensing scheme should be released by Macromedia soon. I hope they consider this option.
In a comment on centralmx.com, Mike Chambers has answered that the Capacity License does indeed provide a Central runtime license like the one described in this post.
That's a good clarification because many people have assumed that the capacity license was required for each app that would be distributed.
It should lessen some objections when people realize that a company only must pay one time (per year) for an overall Central capacity license, and not for every app that is delivered.
Posted by: Rob Dixon | 04 December 2003 at 02:10 AM