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Subj: What price C++ ???
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Date: 27 Jun 89 19:37:33 GMT
From: ginosko!sacco@uunet.uu.net (Joseph E. Sacco)
Organization: Mitchell and Gauthier Associates
Subject: What price C++ ???
Message-Id: <50@eileen.samsung.com>
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To: info-g++@prep.ai.mit.edu
For many of us in the C++ community who have been waiting anxiously
for months for the release of Rev 2.0, the announcement of June 30 as
THE official release date evoked an audible sigh of relief. Finally,
features that have been discussed for months in papers and on the net would
be available: Typesafe linkage, overloading of the operators new and delete,
smart pointers, multiple inheritance and more. No longer would it be
necessary to call At&T Software Licensing every two weeks just to hear
"I don't know when. Sorry." One could now plan a C++ based product.
I called At&T Software Licensing the other day to inquire about upgrading
my single CPU license for Rev 1.2. When I was informed of the pricing
structure I DAMN NEAR DIED! There was this long pause while I attempted
to regain some modicum of composure. I asked them to FAX me the
information on an offical letter head that I could present to my
management. The information is summarized below:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"As per our discussions the pricing structure for C++ Release 1.2 and
2.0 are as follows:
AT&T Language System, Rel 1.2 C++ Language System, Rel 2.0
Initial CPU: $2000 Initial CPU: $20,000
Each Additional CPU: $1000 Each Additional CPU: $5000
Initial Sublicensing Fee: $2000 Initial Sublicensing Fee: N/A
(June 30th)
Upgrade Fee: * See Below Notes 1&2
*NOTES:
1. Upgrade fees are available ONLY to Licensees of AT&T C++ Language
System,1.2.
2. LICENSEES of AT&T C++ Language System, Release 1.2 who, before September
30, 1989, fully execute a license for AT&T C++ Language System, Release
2.0 may upgrade the initial DESIGNATED CPU for a fee of $10,000, and
additional DESIGNATED CPU's for a fee of $2,500, per CPU.
Please also note that June 30, 1989 will be At&T's cut-off date for
issuing any licensing arrangements for C++, Release 1.2.
If you have any further questions, please call me on 1-800-828-UNIX."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
There as also a brief, verbal discussion on fees for universities. I
believe it was stated that there would be no more site licenses but
rather a flat fee of $300 per CPU. The university fee schedule was not
included in the FAX I received so I do not have that information in
writing.
I was under the impression that AT&T was interested in making C++ the
next "standard" language of choice. I see the five-to-ten-fold fee
increase to be counter to that goal at this time. It would appear
that AT&T is pushing end users toward third party suppliers of binary
versions of the translator. I believe that action to be premature.
John Carolan described Release 1.2 as $2000 worth of bugs. He was
correct. However, given access to the source code and the C++ community
through the net, one could work with Release 1.2 to learn the language and
sketch inital designs. Given the current state of flux of the language
[and the translator], I would not consider it prudent at this time to to
undertake the development of a commerical software product without access
to the source code. It is shear folly to attempt to schedule a software
product when that schedule will be dependent upon some third party vendor
providing timely fixes to translator bugs that will most certainly be
present. Without source code and access to the C++ community, the response
time to fix a bug will be measured in months rather than days. You just
cannot plan ahead with any degree of confidence.
Eventually the language and the translator will stabilize sufficiently
that access to source code will be unnecessary for most development
of applications software. Afterall, I do not have source code for either
UNIX or my C compiler and yet I get along quite well without source. Here
it is a matter of degree. There may be bugs in these products but
their effects upon my development efforts are minimal. They are
mature products that have gone through many release cycles.
What to do? There are choices:
(i) Do not use C++ for the development of commerical products at
this time. Study it, play with it, but wait until things
settle down. Your job may depend upon your decision.
(ii) Use g++ from the Free Software Foundation. This is a true compiler
[native code generator] with a source level debugger. The current
version, 1.35.1-, appears to have incorporated most or all of the
features of Release 2.0 in addition to some of their own.
However, I suggest that you have your attorneys carefully study
the "copy-left" agreement associated with this offering to prevent
"misunderstandings" about what you can an cannot use in a
commerical product.
(iii) Given the five-to-ten-fold increase in the fee schedule for source
code, the fees for binary versions of release 2.0 may rise
substantially. Since the binaries will not be cheap, it might be
worthwhile to consider using another object oriented language like
Eiffel or Objective-C. Here, if there is a problem you can deal
directly with the people at the "source" rather than through
middlemen. Consequently, I suspect that the response time to bugs
will be considerably better.
(iv) Contact the people at AT&T Software Licensing and discuss the
matter with them. They should listen to their customer base.
A person to contact at AT&T is the manager of software licensing:
Mr. Otis Wilson
AT&T Information Systems
UNIX Software Licensing
P.O. Box 25000
Greensboro, NC 27420
phone: 1-800-828-UNIX
FAX: (919)-855-2753
e-mail: ...ihnp4!attunix!gcss20!olw
Be advised that Mr. Otis did not define the fee schedule but has
access to those who did. As always, please observe net etiquette
when communicating with Mr. Wilson. He is reputed to be someone
who listens to his customers.
Joe