Note: the terms of this licensing policy covers VPS objects for Visual Prolog 5.2 Only and do not apply for VP Studio Shell.
If you are user of newer version of
Visual Prolog or VP Studio Shell
please click here
This chapter describes Visual Prolog Studio Objects licensing and support arrangements, including:
The copyrights under which Visual Prolog Studio Objects is distributed (see section 3.2 Copyrights used by Visual Prolog Studio Objects)
Sample situations illustrating when a license is required (see section 3.4 Example licensing situations)
Licensing and support costs (see section 3.5 Visual Prolog Studio Objects licensing and support costs), and support benefits (see section 3.6 Types of commercial support)
Basically, our licensing policy is as follows:
For normal internal use, Visual Prolog Studio Objects generally costs nothing. You do not have to pay us if you do not want to.
A license is required if:
You sell the Visual Prolog Studio Objects directly or as a part of another product or service;
You charge for installing and maintaining a Visual Prolog Studio Objects at some client site;
You include Visual Prolog Studio Objects in a distribution that is non-redistributable and you charge for some part of that distribution;
You include Visual Prolog Studio Objects into applications/technology which you are selling as on OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) license basis.
You sell application which include/use Visual Prolog Studio Objects via distribution channel.
If license is not required
for Visual Prolog Studio Objects (see
above), you need to include to the about Box of your software the following
statement, which refers to the Web site with sources:
Powered by Visual
Prolog Studio Object
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~vip20000
We recommend to use Hyperlink
Object of the VP Studio Objects
You do not need a license to include Visual Prolog Studio Objects code in commercial programs which you sell DIRECTLY.
For customers who have purchased 1 license or Visual Prolog Studio Objects support, we provide additional functionality:
If your use of Visual Prolog Studio Objects does not require a license, but you like Visual Prolog Studio Objects and want to encourage further development, you are certainly welcome to purchase a license anyway.
If you use Visual Prolog Studio Objects in a commercial context such that you profit by its use, we ask that you support the development of Visual Prolog Studio Objects by purchasing some level of support. We feel that if Visual Prolog Studio Objects helps your business, it is reasonable to ask that you help Visual Prolog Studio Objects. (Otherwise, if you ask us support questions, you are not only using for free something into which we've put a lot a work, you're asking us to provide free support, too.)
For use under Microsoft operating systems (MsDOS/Win95/Win98/WinNT/Win2000), you need a Visual Prolog Studio Objects license after a trial period of 30 days, with the exception that licenses may be obtained upon request at no cost for educational use or for university- or government-sponsored research settings. After you have paid, you will get a password that will enable you to access the newest Visual Prolog Studio Objects and other development projects by IDOY Pty Ltd.
If you have any questions as to whether or not a license is required for your particular use of Visual Prolog Studio Objects, please contact us.
If you require a Visual Prolog Studio Objects license - please contact us Other forms of payment are discussed in section 3.5.1 Payment information.
There are several different copyrights on the Visual Prolog Studio Objects distribution:
You will need a COMMERCIAL LICENSE OF Visual Prolog to compile and use Visual Prolog Studio Objects inside commercial applications which you sell via distribution channel or as an OEM solution..
Some small parts of the source are covered by the ``GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE''.
We may choose to distribute older versions of Visual Prolog Studio Objects with the GPL in the future.
This section is a clarification of the license terms that are set forth in the ``Visual Prolog Studio Objects FREE PUBLIC LICENSE'' (FPL).
Visual Prolog Studio Objects may be used freely, including by commercial entities for evaluation or unsupported internal use. However, distribution for commercial purposes of Visual Prolog Studio Objects, or anything containing or derived from Visual Prolog Studio Objects in whole or in part, requires a written commercial license from IDOY PTY LTD, the sole entity authorized to grant such licenses.
You may not include Visual Prolog Studio Objects ``free'' in a package containing anything for which a charge is being made, except as noted below.
If you want to distribute software in a commercial context that incorporates Visual Prolog Studio Objects and you do not want to meet these conditions, you should contact IDOY PTY LTD to find out about commercial licensing, which involves a payment. The only ways you legally can distribute Visual Prolog Studio Objects or anything containing Visual Prolog Studio Objects are by distributing Visual Prolog Studio Objects under the requirements of the FPL, or by getting a commercial license from IDOY PTY LTD.
This section describes some situations illustrating whether or not you must license the Visual Prolog Studio Objects server. Generally these examples involve providing Visual Prolog Studio Objects as part of a product or service that you are selling to a customer, or requiring that Visual Prolog Studio Objects be used in conjunction with your product. In such cases, it is your responsibility to obtain a license for the customer if one is necessary. (This requirement is waived if your customer already has a Visual Prolog Studio Objects license).
To determine whether or not you need a Visual Prolog Studio Objects license when selling your application, you should ask whether the proper functioning of your application is contingent on the use of Visual Prolog Studio Objects and whether you include Visual Prolog Studio Objects with your product. There are several cases to consider:
Does your application require Visual Prolog Studio Objects to function properly? If your product requires Visual Prolog Studio Objects, you need a license. For example, if you've designed your application around Visual Prolog Studio Objects, then you've really made a commercial product that requires the engine, so you need a license. If your application does not require Visual Prolog Studio Objects, you need not obtain a license. In other words, you need a license if you sell a product designed specifically for use with Visual Prolog Studio Objects or that requires the Visual Prolog Studio Objects to function at all. This is true whether or not you provide Visual Prolog Studio Objects for your client as part of your product distribution. It also depends on what you're doing for the client. Do you plan to provide your client with detailed instructions on how to use Visual Prolog Studio Objects for software development? Then your product may be contingent on the use of Visual Prolog Studio Objects; if so, you need to buy a license.
Do you include Visual Prolog Studio Objects in a distribution and charge for that distribution? If you include Visual Prolog Studio Objects with a distribution that you sell to customers, you will need a license, because in this case you are selling a system that includes Visual Prolog Studio Objects. This is true whether the use of Visual Prolog Studio Objects with your product is required or optional.
If you perform Visual Prolog Studio Objects installation on a client's machine and any money changes hands for the service (directly or indirectly), then you must buy a Visual Prolog Studio Objects license.
If you sell an application for which Visual Prolog Studio Objects is not strictly required but can be used, a license may be indicated, depending on how Visual Prolog Studio Objects is set up. Suppose your product neither requires Visual Prolog Studio Objects nor includes it in your product distribution, but can be configured to use Visual Prolog Studio Objects for those customers who so desire
If the customer obtains and installs Visual Prolog Studio Objects, no license is needed. If you perform that service for your customer, then a license is needed because then you are selling a service that includes Visual Prolog Studio Objects.
It is simply free now.
For commercial licensing, or if you have any questions about any of the information in this section, please contact the Visual Prolog Studio Objects developer. The much preferred method is by E-Mail:
Basic email support is a very inexpensive support option and should be thought of more as a way to support our development of Visual Prolog Studio Objects than as a real support option.
At this support level, the Visual Prolog Studio Objects mailing lists are the preferred means of communication. Questions normally should be mailed to the primary mailing list (ezy-soft@ezy-software.com).
Copyright 1998-2003 EDMGROUP (Australia)
Last Updated: May 22, 2003