Lahey Licensing of Fortran compiler for Linux - in detail ;-)

[Simon Hogg]

At 11:06 21/01/03 -0500, John Burton wrote:
>Jim Lux wrote:
>>It seems to me that Lahey is pricing bigger clusters higher based on the 
>>reasonable assumption that someone who can afford to build and operate a 
>>200 processor cluster probably has more "means to pay" than someone 
>>operating a 4 processor cluster.  Furthermore, the price differential 
>>isn't all that extreme considering the radically different budgets that 
>>probably exist... It's a roughly 2:1 price difference for a 16:1 cluster 
>>size (and presumably, ability to pay) difference.
>
>But the question remains. In a world where other vendors are charging for 
>the product (fortran compiler) Lahey is charging for running the programs 
>produced by that product. I wrote the FORTRAN source code. I bought the 
>hardware and software for the cluster. I'm paying for the cooling and 
>power to run the cluster. I'm paying for the systems administration. Why 
>should I pay someone else to *run* my code on my cluster? What is the 
>value they add?

My understanding, from the comments indirectly posted from Lahey "The 
license allows
two users to simultaneously develop programs for use on clusters of up to 64
CPUs in size.  The code that is developed can be distributed to an UNLIMITED
number of clusters ranging in size from 5 to 64 CPUs.  The clusters running
the executable code do not need a Lahey compiler, nor do they pay any fees
to Lahey."

So the 'value' they add is the same as for any commercial compiler - the 
environment, usability, speed etc.  The license allows you to *develop* on 
a cluster of a certain size, but the resulting program can be distributed 
ad infinitum, on clusters up to the size allowed for development for the 
cluster, without the need to purchase a Lahey license.

--
Simon