Hi Adrien,
Le 2014-05-01 12:45, Adrien Prost-Boucle a écrit :
Why do I "have" to sign a licence agreement,
lock my computer(s) with their flexlm and can't
look at the source code to help myself in case of
a problem ? That's the difference between "it works"
and "it will work well for everybody for as long as we care".
A typical license lasts one year, which is very short
for some of my projects or the support i must provide.
Which is why I care so much about FOSS.
I totally adhere to that way of thinking.
Aaaannnnnd just to remind me that my theory comes from practice,
today I receive an email from MicroSemi warning me that
my "free" license is about to expire. Going to their link
shows how their generosity is a commercial imperative.
http://www.microsemi.com/products/fpga-soc/design-resources/licensing#ordering
(to be fair, they have extended their "free beer" license
to the whole range of the last generation chips, which I
happen to employ)
I understand that a FPGA maker has more SW engineers (writing
and supporting the tools) than silicon engineers. And THAT
may be the point for a really FREE toolchain, or even just
the VHDL entry point. I think that the reason licenses are
limited to one year is because they bundle 3rd party tools
(Synopsis now owns the synthesiser after buying Synplicity)
and they contractually must provide figures to Synopsys.
A really free replacement would save us hassles, and save
MicroSemi license fees and salaries. Furthermore they would be able
to more easily target different platforms, shield themselves
from "consolidation" effects in the industry and from
a maker going bankrupt or whatever...
My 1/50€ for today :-)
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