Interbase VAR Licence and Demos or Free Versions

[Juan C.Cilleruelo 12]

Recently I've receibed pub for the VAR program for Interbase VARs licence system, and again, as I did years ago, I read it looking for a special paragraf about how Embarcadero/Idera, in this program, consider the Demos or de "Communiy/Free" versions o our applications. 

I can't find a single line about this.

For years I accepted that for little applications, like the mine one, Interbase is a very good option. Mainly for applications multiplatform (Windows/Mac), but, my brand system is let the user enjoy with a reduced version of my application free of charge, what involves, I think, pay a licence to Idera/Embarcadero, for every installation of a product for which I do not charge.

Any one knows if exists some type of disclaimer for free/community versions of applications that includes Interbase with VAR license? 

 

Well, I know that exists a trial version of interbase that I can install, but have a very high limitation to an application, like mine, that saves graphic information inside the database. His max size for the file of the database is of 100Mb. 
Today, this is ridiculous. True? 

[Vandrovnik 214]

Could you use Firebird for the free version? With server, or even embedded, so there is no need to install it.

[Brian Evans 105]

Gave up on this decades ago and used FlashFiler then NexusDB instead.  Mainly for the ease of going from single user embedded to multi-user client/server without licensing issues. 

 

Note for single user applications higher editions of Delphi come with redistribution rights for IBLite and IBToGo. It's only multiuser that needs server licensing that can cause issues for some sales models like yours. 

[Fr0sT.Brutal 900]

I wouldn't bother with IB licensing stuff when there's opensource Firebird. Especially if you have "small apps" that unlikely require some unique IB features.

[sjordi 39]

11 hours ago, Brian Evans said:

Gave up on this decades ago and used FlashFiler then NexusDB instead.

Me too when developing Windows apps. 
NexusDB is great but is not available for cross-platform apps. That's very unfortunate.
I'm also against pay as you go solutions and think that the VAR program is pretty obscure. For single developers, you need to know the costs in advance, you have no way to determine how successful an app will be. Could be 10 users or 300k users.

As a single developer, I want to pay a fixed price and then have the freedom of royalty free distribution, just like NexusDB.

For cross platform, I switched to SQLite, even if not as powerful as Interbase, but it also has a much much much smaller footprint that IB... even if this is a selling point for them to be small...

[Juan C.Cilleruelo 12]

On 6/16/2022 at 8:51 PM, Vandrovnik said:

Could you use Firebird for the free version? With server, or even embedded, so there is no need to install it.

Firebird doesn't work as an embedded version on Mac OS X.  

 

[Juan C.Cilleruelo 12]

On 6/16/2022 at 10:32 PM, Brian Evans said:

Gave up on this decades ago and used FlashFiler then NexusDB instead.  Mainly for the ease of going from single user embedded to multi-user client/server without licensing issues. 

 

Note for single user applications higher editions of Delphi come with redistribution rights for IBLite and IBToGo. It's only multiuser that needs server licensing that can cause issues for some sales models like yours. 

These versions are the ones that have the 100Mb limitations in the DB File.

[Juan C.Cilleruelo 12]

On 6/17/2022 at 9:32 AM, Fr0sT.Brutal said:

I wouldn't bother with IB licensing stuff when there's opensource Firebird. Especially if you have "small apps" that unlikely require some unique IB features.

It is tough to install in Mac OS X as an embedded database. 
I need Windows and Mac OS X distribution of my software. 

 

[Vandrovnik 214]

8 minutes ago, Juan C.Cilleruelo said:

Firebird doesn't work as an embedded version on Mac OS X.  

 

I have never tried, but it seems it should work, at least for FB 2.5 they explicitly write about embedded version:

https://firebirdsql.org/en/firebird-2-5/

[Juan C.Cilleruelo 12]

On 6/17/2022 at 9:36 AM, sjordi said:

Me too when developing Windows apps. 
NexusDB is great but is not available for cross-platform apps. That's very unfortunate.
I'm also against pay as you go solutions and think that the VAR program is pretty obscure. For single developers, you need to know the costs in advance, you have no way to determine how successful an app will be. Could be 10 users or 300k users.

As a single developer, I want to pay a fixed price and then have the freedom of royalty free distribution, just like NexusDB.

For cross platform, I switched to SQLite, even if not as powerful as Interbase, but it also has a much much much smaller footprint that IB... even if this is a selling point for them to be small...

Ok. But I don't have a version for Mac OS X, the solution is the same as Firebird but paying, I think. 
 

[Juan C.Cilleruelo 12]

Just now, Vandrovnik said:

I have never tried, but it seems it should work, at least for FB 2.5 they explicitly write about embedded version:

https://firebirdsql.org/en/firebird-2-5/

I tried it!!!!!

Don't work. 

You need to do a lot of hard work and you need to recompile Firebird entirely to get an unstable version that poorly runs on Mac OS X.

The version you see in this link is older, very older. Is as older, that you can't distribute the application you create in the Apple Store, because the executable of DB is 32 bits.
Some years ago that 32bits apps don't run over MacOS X. 

[Juan C.Cilleruelo 12]

But my question is not about alternatives for Interbase.

My question is about the lake in the VAR contract to allow the distribution of free end-user versions.

Seems that for every application we install as a demo we will pay embarcadero. 

 

It seems that the VAR contract of embarcadero is only accessible for well-established enterprises. 

New projects must take an alternative database. But if my project was successful with another database, why pay embarcadero for Interbase if my project works well and is cheaper with an alternative one?

[Gonzalo Fernandez 0]

Docwiki says that there is a 100mb for iblite but there is not a limit for ibtogo.

https://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Alexandria/en/InterBase_ToGo

 

Anyway for desktop ibtogo has cost. For mobile it's a free deployment if you have Rad Studio enterprise.

Iblite is free, but restricted.

Maybe you can contact Embarcadero and look if they thought about using ibtogo for free for demo purposes provided you bring business when you sell your app.

Otherwise you may use iblite for demo systems storing the images as files and only the path to them in db... not ideal but free...

Good luck

 

[Sriram 4]

Juan,

InterBase VAR agreements are customized to suit each VAR's needs for deployment. Please connect with your local Embarcadero Sales contact to setup a VAR agreement that includes your custom requirements. Depending on your deployment plans/forecast, I am sure the Sales team would do their best to accommodate any Demo/free usage in the mix.

 

Please do also state to the Sales team what your specific feedback is about IBLite restrictions (database size etc.). 

 

All the best!

 

[sjordi 39]

3 hours ago, Sriram said:

Depending on your deployment plans/forecast

To me everything is said here: no-one could forecast the sales. 
I always found the VAR agreement totally imbecile. Handing out $5K upfront in prevision, that is rollbacked to the next year, etc is so cumbersome. And some freelance developers can't afford this.

That's why a one-time payment with then royalty free distribution is, to me, the only way to go.

And unlike what you say, if you contact sales, no, you won't have a clear picture of the future, it's always confused, blurred, and it always gives the feeling that prices and conditions will vary depending on the customer. Doesn't make you feel confident. Leaves you with a feeling that you are just a cow being milked against your will...

 

[Sriram 4]

As it stands today, other than IBLite, there is no royalty-free distribution for general customers of InterBase today. RAD Studio allows some users of higher end editions to deploy IBToGo royalty free as well. The primary motivation of IBLite is to give an easy entry point for customers wanting to build and deploy with InterBase, in some capacity, without any deployment costs. IBToGo and InterBase Server/Desktop Edition are upscaled with additional features, and are thus setup to scale with our customer's (VARs and direct) needs in a customized fashion.

 

From what I know, not all VAR agreements require a huge upfront payment. InterBase has traditionally functioned in a "royalty payment" mode where the VAR pays for the deployment at the end of the quarter, based on how many deployments they have done. Making a pre-payment (small or large) allows the deployments to be deducted against this pre-payment (as per the agreement), and the next renewal window (could be a multi-year agreement) is a good time to forecast based on past few years deployment and growth projections. This also allows Sales team to provide a better discounted price for large volume shipments. Many of our VARs are on these for the last few decades, and are happy with the arrangement. It gives them the flexibility to choose the necessary licenses (users and CPUs) to customize their deployments, and based on our royalty reports can judge the run rate accordingly.

 

The request to contact Sales is purely with the mindset of understanding what a specific VAR's requirements are and how to customize the deal (prepayment, royalty reporting, OS platform choice, users scaling for single install, ToGo .vs. Server etc.), that will allow the Sales team to put together a package customized to the VARs needs. Spending a couple hours discussing this, and any shortcomings of the offerings, with the Sales team, is time well spent IMO. It allows our organization to understand the VARs needs, and make adjustments to our deployment strategies. IBLite, and IBToGo, came about over the years based on customer deployments for small applications, and mobile platforms. So, it is useful to us immensely to understand your distribution models.

 

We currently do not have a generally available licensing model for Demos and free distribution of IBToGo or Server Editions. Neither do we have any "subscription" based model for pay-as-you-use (a la AWS, Azure instances etc.). Having said that, we are eager to hear from our customer community (current and potential) of any changing needs in their environments that we should consider for both our businesses to grow together. I would highly encourage you all to communicate when we fall short, to our Sales and Support teams. Our Sales and Support teams do not read these newsgroups, so stating it here won't be heard directly by the organization (but for occasional feedback such as now from interested people using the technologies). So, please connect with our Sales and Support teams to convey your needs; we are eager to understand and deliver where we can.

 

Thanks!