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10 Replies Last post: Oct 14, 2009 3:12 AM by tgi12  

Commercial Use? posted: Oct 31, 2008 11:15 AM

Click to view thbrunet's profile Lurker 3 posts since
Oct 31, 2008

Two questions about the VMware Server 2.0 license agreement in terms of commercial use:

1) The phrase "If you activate the Software or any Licensed Additional Module with an evaluation Software License Key ("Evaluation Product") you may use the Evaluation Product until the Expiration Date only to evaluate the suitability of the Evaluation Product for licensing on a for-fee basis."

Is VMware Server 2.0 an evaluation license? Is there a for-fee version? If not, why is this even in the license agreement?

2) The phrase "Distributing the Software. VMware Server is intended for your personal
non-commercial use only."

This seems like a killer for anyone who wants to use VMware Server in a business environment, even if it's just for simulating another OS (not running a grid/service). Is VMware Server 2.0 really only for non-commercial use?

Thanks

Re: Commercial Use?

1. Oct 31, 2008 5:42 PM in response to: thbrunet
Click to view wila's profile Virtuoso 3,268 posts since
Jun 27, 2006
Gosh, you actually read that stuff? ;)
1) The phrase "If you activate the Software or any Licensed Additional Module with an evaluation Software License Key ("Evaluation Product") you may use the Evaluation Product until the Expiration Date only to evaluate the suitability of the Evaluation Product for licensing on a for-fee basis."

Is VMware Server 2.0 an evaluation license? Is there a for-fee version? If not, why is this even in the license agreement?

The license you normally get is not time-limited. There is no for fee version that I am aware of for VMware Server 2.0. The product is a spinoff from GSX server which used to be non free, so maybe this is simply a left over from the old days?

2) The phrase "Distributing the Software. VMware Server is intended for your personal
non-commercial use only."
There are many people running VMware Server in production, so if it is for personal use only then it would be very strange. The way I read this is that you are not allowed to distribute the software yourself, not a limitation on how-to use it. But of course I might be totally wrong... IANAL as they say.


--
Wil

Re: Commercial Use?

2. Nov 4, 2008 12:24 AM in response to: thbrunet
Click to view GondarPL's profile Lurker 1 posts since
Nov 4, 2008

2. Question

It would be nice, to receive answer from somebody from VMware. I saw it used comercially (for evaluation of other software and hosting small internal web servers) during my internship. Now I am close to convince boss at my present company to start using it. But not being sure about license I can do nothing.

Re: Commercial Use?

4. Nov 4, 2008 1:37 PM in response to: thbrunet
Click to view mcbnl's profile Enthusiast 33 posts since
Oct 26, 2008

I think VMware wants you to use a commercial version (read: more or less heavily overpriced version) of their software if you want to run your business on top of it, or if you want to offer virtual machines to paying customers.

Whatever license terms they use, the only thing they can do is not give you support if it doesn't work. Software aimed at personal use can always be bought and used by a commercial company. This is comparable not only to things like ball points or sweets you can by at your local supermarket (and use it for your company or give to customers), but also to DSL lines offered by numerous ISPs. You can use it, but don't expect VMware to fix things if you run into problems.

So, it's kind of a legal issue, in the sense that one can not give any guarantees as to fitness for a particular purpose, etc. etc. If you use VMware Server commercially, you better not give uptime guarantees to your customers if you're not willing to pay the bill if it doesn't work. So don't build your business on top of VMware Server if you want to be able to send a claim to VMware if things break down.

(On a side note, I'd expect VMware has "fitness for a particular purpose"-like clauses even for their commercial versions. So legally you might still be on your own if things break down.)

Re: Commercial Use?

5. Nov 4, 2008 2:00 PM in response to: mcbnl
Click to view asatoran's profile Virtuoso 2,928 posts since
Jun 23, 2006
mcbnl wrote:
...So, it's kind of a legal issue, in the sense that one can not give any guarantees as to fitness for a particular purpose, etc. etc. If you use VMware Server commercially, you better not give uptime guarantees to your customers if you're not willing to pay the bill if it doesn't work. So don't build your business on top of VMware Server if you want to be able to send a claim to VMware if things break down.

(On a side note, I'd expect VMware has "fitness for a particular purpose"-like clauses even for their commercial versions. So legally you might still be on your own if things break down.)


Not that it answers the OP's question your your side note completely, but you can purchase support for Server. Considering that the pricing is slightly lower than, but on par with, ESX support pricing, this implies that Server is supported for commercial use.

Re: Commercial Use?

6. Nov 4, 2008 2:08 PM in response to: GondarPL
Click to view guyrleech's profile Virtuoso 1,816 posts since
Mar 6, 2006

Given that the sentences about non-commercial use are in the "Distributing the Software" clause then unless you want to become a VMware distributor, which I strongly suspect you don't, then I don't see any problem at all - it's a fairly clear licencse agreement as license agreements go.

My licence, which I got after registering, is a full licence and doesn't expire so evaluation terms are irrelevant. Interestingly, I can change the number of servers licensed. up to a maximum of a mere 999, on the product and dowload page.

But I don't work for VMware ....


Re: Commercial Use?

7. Nov 4, 2008 2:22 PM in response to: thbrunet
Click to view wila's profile Virtuoso 3,268 posts since
Jun 27, 2006
Hi,

OK. First let me restate that I am no lawyer and add to that -in addition- english is not my first language, so not sure how useful my comment in fact is, however...

This time I have actually read the problematic parts of the EULA, which it looks like is what you talk about and in particular section 2.2 and section 9

Section 2.2

First section 2.2 is a section that goes under "evaluation licenses", which just appears to be there in the case you are running an evalution version of VMware server 2. Since I presume you have applied for a non expiring license, this does not count for you. Yes even if it is the free license. You can always buy a "fee" version of a product. That just means you want to have support on the product. You can't expect VMware to give free support on a free product.
Why it is in the license? I can't answer that..

Section 9

This clause really sounds to me like it really is about distributing the VMware server software yourself as it falls under 9.1 and it start and stops with talking about the "redistributable components" and it also tells you that you can get more info at: http://www.vmware.com/go/distribution ...

But I agree that it would be nice if someone from VMware legal departments is able to clear this up officially.
If you need an official answer on a short term notice then contact your local VMware salesperson. They should know.


--
Wil

Re: Commercial Use?

9. Nov 5, 2008 8:26 AM in response to: thbrunet
Click to view asatoran's profile Virtuoso 2,928 posts since
Jun 23, 2006
thbrunet wrote:

guyrleech wrote:
Given that the sentences about non-commercial use are in the "Distributing the Software" clause then unless you want to become a VMware distributor, which I strongly suspect you don't, then I don't see any problem at all - it's a fairly clear licencse agreement as license agreements go.
Yes, I tried to make that argument, however, I was told that the section does not matter. It would be different if the statement said "VMware Server is not intended for commercial distribution", but they don't say that. They make a blanket statement that VMware Server is intended for non-commercial USE. Distributors don't necessarily use the product, so this wouldn't really be relevant to distribution. It's a statement that seems out of place, and I hope was inserted by someone who meant something else and misworded it.

I would also comment that you are reading the "free, no-support" version of the agreement. You likely will get a different version of the agreement if you buy support. Of couse, as Wila is saying, these are the kinds of things that you need to contact VMWare for to clarify.


And if your lawyers are really going to make it an issue and you don't want to purchase support, then you'll probably want to look at ESXi, It's agreement does not mention "non-comercial use" at all.

Re: Commercial Use?

10. Oct 14, 2009 3:12 AM in response to: asatoran
Click to view tgi12's profile Lurker 1 posts since
Oct 14, 2009

Did anyone get to the bottom of the EULA since last year?

Apart from the non-commercial use phrase I find this one rather limiting. (all in the last few lines)

Subject to the above, each copy of the Software may not be used by any other person, whether or not such person is employed by or otherwise associated with your entity.

And this one doesn't really make sense if you can install the server on up to 10 machines

i) install or have installed a single instance of the Software and each Licensed Additional Module on a single Server, unless permitted by VMware to have multiple instances on a single Server or to have multiple instances on multiple Servers

We are looking to virtualise a small testbench of desktop PCs running windows and windows apps. A VMware server on each box seemed like a good fit.

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