Long ago I had a phone call from India (proves how long ago this was!) for technical support, and it was a one line change I gave over the phone, saying "put this change in and let me know if there's a problem in the morning". He replied "we won't know until Saturday, that's when we run SAS jobs", and when I asked why, he said "Well, I probably shouldn't tell you, but we haven't paid our SAS License for several years; every Saturday we IPL with an ancient date and run our week's SAS jobs."
MXG's prime motivation to not check CPUID when we created that software in 1984 was to avoid OUR need to keep track of CPU and to avoid having to take the time to provide each customer with a new key, so MXG Software has always been a single site license for ALL processors and ALL operating systems at the licensed address. I can recall the shock of many contract-admin folks in those early years when they were upgrading to a new CPU when my Vice President would reply "we don't need your CPUID; it's a site license; you can run MXG on anything there, including the coke machine!" Also, since MXG was always to be source code distributed, keys would not provide any protection! The combination of the volatility of the input data to MXG that requires frequent updates, so we can verify your license is active, a price so low that it can't be undercut, so we can distribute the source, and users who know we are "Children of the 60's, giving away the keys to the kingdom", so our users are friends as much as customers, has kept us truckin' for the past 27 years. And, on the rare occasion where a consolidation did create an unlicensed situation, payment for those missed years has always been forthcoming, and usually because the techie want to make sure WE were paid. But our primary goal has ALWAYS been to provide the tool set to keep our users employed and happy! Barry Merrill Herbert W. Barry Merrill, PhD President-Programmer Merrill Consultants MXG Software 10717 Cromwell Drive Dallas TX 75229 214 351 1966 tel 214 350 3695 fax www.mxg.com P.S. When the first Gulf War started, one of (or the one?) Australian aircraft carrier was hastily deployed, only to discover their SAS License had expired, leading to a hasty series of radio messages to/from SAS Oz to get the new key. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
