| |
Pricing, Licensing, and Support
|
|
Special Customer Requirements
Product Delivery
Discussion Groups
Pricing, Licensing, and Support
How much does CobolScript cost?
$49.95 per license. Every CobolScript developer should buy a license from Deskware, but a single copy of CobolScript on a web server may be used to execute your programs for an unlimited number of users.
Does Deskware offer a discount on CobolScript to students and universities?
Unfortunately, no. Our standard price is very low - just barely enough for us to make a small profit on each license sale, actually - so we can't afford to lower the price below this for any market segment, no matter how much we can see the value in doing this. We hope you'll understand.
Deskware COBOL was freeware. Why isn't CobolScript free, too?
Deskware COBOL was a product we released to assess consumer interest and to give our customers an idea of our future product direction. Deskware COBOL was never intended to be a commercially viable product -- after all, it only runs 150 lines of code, and we never provided any documentation with it. Furthermore, Deskware COBOL has a lot of bugs in it (that's a part of the software development process, after all) that we didn't correct before releasing it, because it was freeware.
CobolScript, however, has been extensively tested before its release for commercial sale, and we provide a complete manual with it. We provide product support and free incremental product releases with your purchase. Also, CobolScript is vastly superior to and much different from Deskware COBOL. If you've used Deskware COBOL in the past and felt hampered by its limitations, you're in for a great surprise, because those limitations simply don't exist in CobolScript.
Why isn't CobolScript an open source product? Can I get, see, or buy the source code to CobolScript?
Certain open source products such as Linux® are popular for good reason. The unprecedented collaborative effort that went into Linux® produced a viable, competitive operating system in a relatively short amount of time. Other open source products like FreeBSD® are similar success stories.
However, open source isn't necessarily the best model for every type of software and every type of company, and here at Deskware we've come to the decision that we just couldn't stay in business if we freely distributed or sold the source code to CobolScript.
Having said this, we do see the benefit of shared code, so we provide a number of sample CobolScript programs online that you can view, run from our web site, and copy at your leisure, as well as more sample programs with your purchase. And if enough interest exists, we'll add a special CobolScript developer library to our web site, so that you can share CobolScript code with other developers.
Can I distribute or sell my CobolScript programs without paying royalties to Deskware?
Yes. If you're using CobolScript Standard Edition (the $49.95 product), however, your customers will have to purchase a licensed copy of CobolScript from Deskware if they want to run CobolScript programs on their computers. In the near future, Deskware will be releasing CobolScript Professional Edition, which will allow CobolScript developers to build executables from their CobolScript programs. With CobolScript Professional Edition, developers can distribute or sell executable versions of their CobolScript programs, royalty-free, without requiring that their customers own the CobolScript engine. CobolScript Professional Edition will cost $199.95.
If you'd like a prerelease version of CobolScript Professional Edition that allows you to build executables, contact us now and we'll give you a version for a reduced price of $149.95, along with free updates when the Professional Edition is officially released, as well as a free copy of CobolScript Standard Edition for any additional platform that you choose.
Does my CobolScript purchase entitle me to product support?
Yes, your purchase of CobolScript entitles you to a full year of on-line support through our Web Support Board. Once you've purchased a CobolScript license, you'll have unlimited access to the support board, accessible from the Deskware registered user web site.
Back to question list
Special Customer Requirements
If I don't have a credit card, how can I purchase licenses for CobolScript?
If you have a U.S. bank account, you can use our Redicheck service, also available through the product catalog, to place an online check order. Otherwise, you can mail a money order in U.S. funds to:
Deskware, Inc.
CobolScript Licensing
5364 Ehrlich Road #386
Tampa, FL 33625
Your money order should be in the amount of $49.95 multiplied by the number of licenses you are purchasing.
Also, Florida residents please add the sales tax appropriate for your county of residence.
Please include a note with the following information on it:
Number of CobolScript licenses that you are purchasing,
and for which platforms: (e.g., 1 FreeBSD and
5 Windows licenses)
Subtotal:
Total (FL residents add sales tax):
First Name:
Last Name:
Company name:
Address:
City:
State/Province (if in the U.S. or Canada):
Zip or Postal Code:
Country:
Phone:
Email Address:
Once we've received your order, we will email you a Deskware User ID and password that will allow you to download your software and documentation.
Can I use a purchase order to buy CobolScript?
Yes. However, for legal reasons we can only accept purchase orders from U.S. locations of U.S. corporations, for orders of 10 or more CobolScript licenses. If you're in the U.S., you can call our sales line toll free at 888-624-4131 to purchase with a PO. Please note that we may be required to perform a credit check prior to accepting your PO.
We are using CobolScript to build a system, but we have special requirements. Can someone from Deskware help us?
Yes, under certain circumstances, Deskware CobolScript experts can be made available for short-term engagements. Contact us for more information.
Back to question list
Product Delivery
Does CobolScript come with packaging or hard copy manuals?
Currently we only sell soft copies of our products and manuals. Our products are all small enough in size to download in a reasonable amount of time (no zipped or tarred version of CobolScript, with manual, is larger than 5 MB). And, by eliminating paper waste and handling costs, we are able to reduce our product costs, and therefore keep our prices extremely low for you.
Back to question list
Discussion Groups
Where can I find CobolScript discussions on the Internet?
CobolScript and Deskware COBOL discussion groups can be found at
One List,
WebTrek, and Tek-Tips.
Back to question list
Top of FAQ
|
|
