5 ms·

How do you license them? I've never seen a "Buy now" link, only the text about "Free for personal use" every time.

by porker 8y ago

krylon 8y ago
I vaguely recall that this was discussed here on HN a while ago and somebody who had actually tried to buy the necessary license reported that Oracle would not sell them the license; IIRC, the sales person told them to "just use it, we don't care", or something along those lines. Which is very problematic, of course, without something in writing, and given Oracle's reputation.
- giancarlostoro 8y ago
  That's awkward as hell. It's sad that their offering is the only decent one out there (for my needs and with that UX) that's at least got open source options. I hope VirtualPC from Microsoft becomes cross-platform and open sourced, or at least some sort of new VM software from Microsoft, since they seem to be doing a better job at offering up MIT licensed projects lately.
  - dhimes 8y ago
    I wouldn't even mind shelling out $50 for a license if I needed one, but they won't let me. It takes $5000, because they require a purchase of 100 or more at a time. It feels like they don't want to spend time on small stuff, and really don't care.
    - ikeboy 8y ago
      Can also buy a socket license for 1k, or buy from resellers with lower MOQ: e.g. https://m.cdw.com/product/oracle-vm-virtualbox-enterprise-license/2652849 https://m.cdw.com/product/oracle-vm-virtualbox-enterprise-li...
  - user5994461 8y ago
    VMWare does the same thing. No idea why you'd think Oracle is the only competitor.
    - bradstewart 8y ago
      Indeed. I find VMWare Workstation to be a significantly better product as well. I hate using VirtualBox.
- amyjess 8y ago
  If you live in a one-party state, secretly record them and then if Oracle threatens to sue, show them the recording and remind them of promissory estoppel. (IANAL!)
  - krylon 8y ago
    In Germany, it is illegal to record phone conversations without the consents of the other party. Also, I don't think Oracle is going to sue over something like this. They really seem not to care. But they could change their mind tomorrow.
    - amyjess 8y ago
      > In Germany, it is illegal to record phone conversations without the consents of the other party. Hence, "If you live in a one-party state." > Also, I don't think Oracle is going to sue over something like this. Check the other comments in the thread. People are reporting that Oracle is taking IP addresses of people who access the extensions site and if the IP address belongs to a company, they contact the company and threaten to sue.
      - krylon 8y ago
        > Hence, "If you live in a one-party state." I am sorry. In Germany, there is no such thing as a "one-party state". :-| > People are reporting that Oracle is taking IP addresses of people who access the extensions site and if the IP address belongs to a company, they contact the company and threaten to sue. Thank you for pointing this out. I stand corrected.
  - torstenvl 8y ago
    Not really promissory estoppel, which can enforce a promise if you detrimentally relied on it. It's not really to your detriment to use the product for free, so it's not a perfect fit (unless maybe your company hired someone to administer the VMs, specifically based on his VirtualBox experience?). Some other possibilities would be the parol evidence rule (verbal exchanges between the contracting parties and their effect on contract interpretation) and possibly laches (no equitable remedy for folks who know about an infringement on their rights and do nothing about it... but money damages isn't an equity claim). (IAAL but I don't practice in this area, so same grain of salt applies)
- JshWright 8y ago
  This was my experience 6-7 years ago (shortly after the Sun/Oracle acquisition). Couldn't get a straight answer from anyone about how to license it (despite wanting to roll out many thousands of seats using it in a commercial product).
fuzzy2 8y ago
You buy Oracle VM Enterprise: https://www.oracle.com/virtualization/virtualBox/ https://www.oracle.com/virtualization/virtualBox/
wscott 8y ago
Good question. They don't want to sell them. Just based on the website the licenses are only sold in 5000 unit blocks. The fact that they didn't want to take my money forced me to learn KVM and libvirt. That turned out to work better and be way easier to manage remotely.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
mavhc 8y ago
You go to the download page, see the link about the licence, click the FAQ link, and then click the store link, it's £36/user
- porker 8y ago
  Thanks! Shame it's minimum order 100 user licenses.
- Someone1234 8y ago
  I appreciate you finding that. Here's the direct store link verbatim for anyone interested: https://shop.oracle.com/apex/f?p=dstore:product:25714122115624::NO:RP,6:P6_LPI,P6_PPI:114347640102492137513432 https://shop.oracle.com/apex/f?p=dstore:product:257141221156...
ikeboy 8y ago
https://m.cdw.com/product/oracle-vm-virtualbox-enterprise-license/2652849 https://m.cdw.com/product/oracle-vm-virtualbox-enterprise-li... $39.99, no minimum license count
- 0x0 8y ago
  That link only shows: "Access Denied You don't have permission to access "http://m.cdw.com/product/oracle-vm-virtualbox-enterprise-license/2652849" http://m.cdw.com/product/oracle-vm-virtualbox-enterprise-lic... on this server."
  - ikeboy 8y ago
    Works for me. Are you accessing this from the US?
    - slezyr 8y ago
      It seems that it blocks ukrainian users entirely. Even in https://www.cdw.com/ https://www.cdw.com/
      - voltagex_ 8y ago
        Guessing it's blocking non-US users - couldn't get to it from Australia. VPN works fine, though.
    - skaldrom 8y ago
      Switzerland has also "Access Denied".
    - dotancohen 8y ago
      Just chiming in with the others. Trying from Israel, Access Denied.

How do you license them? I've never seen a "Buy now" link, only the text about "Free for personal use" every time.

by porker 8y ago

How do you license them? I've never seen a "Buy now" link, only the text about "Free for personal use" every time.

I vaguely recall that this was discussed here on HN a while ago and somebody who had actually tried to buy the necessary license reported that Oracle would not sell them the license; IIRC, the sales person told them to "just use it, we don't care", or something along those lines. Which is very problematic, of course, without something in writing, and given Oracle's reputation.

giancarlostoro 8y ago
That's awkward as hell. It's sad that their offering is the only decent one out there (for my needs and with that UX) that's at least got open source options. I hope VirtualPC from Microsoft becomes cross-platform and open sourced, or at least some sort of new VM software from Microsoft, since they seem to be doing a better job at offering up MIT licensed projects lately.
- dhimes 8y ago
  I wouldn't even mind shelling out $50 for a license if I needed one, but they won't let me. It takes $5000, because they require a purchase of 100 or more at a time. It feels like they don't want to spend time on small stuff, and really don't care.
  - ikeboy 8y ago
    Can also buy a socket license for 1k, or buy from resellers with lower MOQ: e.g. https://m.cdw.com/product/oracle-vm-virtualbox-enterprise-license/2652849 https://m.cdw.com/product/oracle-vm-virtualbox-enterprise-li...
- user5994461 8y ago
  VMWare does the same thing. No idea why you'd think Oracle is the only competitor.
  - bradstewart 8y ago
    Indeed. I find VMWare Workstation to be a significantly better product as well. I hate using VirtualBox.
amyjess 8y ago
If you live in a one-party state, secretly record them and then if Oracle threatens to sue, show them the recording and remind them of promissory estoppel. (IANAL!)
- krylon 8y ago
  In Germany, it is illegal to record phone conversations without the consents of the other party. Also, I don't think Oracle is going to sue over something like this. They really seem not to care. But they could change their mind tomorrow.
  - amyjess 8y ago
    > In Germany, it is illegal to record phone conversations without the consents of the other party. Hence, "If you live in a one-party state." > Also, I don't think Oracle is going to sue over something like this. Check the other comments in the thread. People are reporting that Oracle is taking IP addresses of people who access the extensions site and if the IP address belongs to a company, they contact the company and threaten to sue.
    - krylon 8y ago
      > Hence, "If you live in a one-party state." I am sorry. In Germany, there is no such thing as a "one-party state". :-| > People are reporting that Oracle is taking IP addresses of people who access the extensions site and if the IP address belongs to a company, they contact the company and threaten to sue. Thank you for pointing this out. I stand corrected.
- torstenvl 8y ago
  Not really promissory estoppel, which can enforce a promise if you detrimentally relied on it. It's not really to your detriment to use the product for free, so it's not a perfect fit (unless maybe your company hired someone to administer the VMs, specifically based on his VirtualBox experience?). Some other possibilities would be the parol evidence rule (verbal exchanges between the contracting parties and their effect on contract interpretation) and possibly laches (no equitable remedy for folks who know about an infringement on their rights and do nothing about it... but money damages isn't an equity claim). (IAAL but I don't practice in this area, so same grain of salt applies)
JshWright 8y ago
This was my experience 6-7 years ago (shortly after the Sun/Oracle acquisition). Couldn't get a straight answer from anyone about how to license it (despite wanting to roll out many thousands of seats using it in a commercial product).

fuzzy2 8y ago

You buy Oracle VM Enterprise: https://www.oracle.com/virtualization/virtualBox/ https://www.oracle.com/virtualization/virtualBox/

wscott 8y ago

Good question. They don't want to sell them. Just based on the website the licenses are only sold in 5000 unit blocks. The fact that they didn't want to take my money forced me to learn KVM and libvirt. That turned out to work better and be way easier to manage remotely.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

mavhc 8y ago

You go to the download page, see the link about the licence, click the FAQ link, and then click the store link, it's £36/user

porker 8y ago
Thanks! Shame it's minimum order 100 user licenses.
Someone1234 8y ago
I appreciate you finding that. Here's the direct store link verbatim for anyone interested: https://shop.oracle.com/apex/f?p=dstore:product:25714122115624::NO:RP,6:P6_LPI,P6_PPI:114347640102492137513432 https://shop.oracle.com/apex/f?p=dstore:product:257141221156...

ikeboy 8y ago

https://m.cdw.com/product/oracle-vm-virtualbox-enterprise-license/2652849 https://m.cdw.com/product/oracle-vm-virtualbox-enterprise-li... $39.99, no minimum license count

0x0 8y ago
That link only shows: "Access Denied You don't have permission to access "http://m.cdw.com/product/oracle-vm-virtualbox-enterprise-license/2652849" http://m.cdw.com/product/oracle-vm-virtualbox-enterprise-lic... on this server."
- ikeboy 8y ago
  Works for me. Are you accessing this from the US?
  - slezyr 8y ago
    It seems that it blocks ukrainian users entirely. Even in https://www.cdw.com/ https://www.cdw.com/
    - voltagex_ 8y ago
      Guessing it's blocking non-US users - couldn't get to it from Australia. VPN works fine, though.
  - skaldrom 8y ago
    Switzerland has also "Access Denied".
  - dotancohen 8y ago
    Just chiming in with the others. Trying from Israel, Access Denied.