Can NOT install Standard ONE on a 2 quad-core processor machine (licensing)

Question

This is from Oracle's licensing (July 2009):
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“When licensing Oracle programs with Standard Edition One or Standard Edition in the product name, a processor is counted equivalent to a socket. However, in the case of multi-chip modules, each chip in the multi-chip module is counted as one occupied socket.”
This is also from Oracle's licensing (July 2009):
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“Oracle Database Standard Edition can only be licensed on servers that have a maximum capacity of 4 sockets. Oracle Standard Edition One may only be licensed on servers that have a maximum capacity of 2 sockets.”
Now, this is what it seems to be:
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1 quad-core AMD/Intel Xeon chip counts as 4x0.5=2 sockets (reached the maximum capacity limit in the licensing terms) by simply using 1 (single) quad-core CPU box.
and that's it - you can NOT install Standard Edition ONE on a 2 quad-core CPU Linux box :(((((
For a AMD/Intel multi-core Linux boxes
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it can be a single quad-core CPU box (4x0.5=2 sockets -- but, paying twice the processor license - because it is now 2 sockets) or
it can be a 2 dual-core CPU (2X2x0.5=2 sockets -- but, paying twice the processor license) or
it can be a single dual-core CPU box (2x0.5=1 -- paying only a single processor license)
I think it is time for Oracle to revisit the licensing terms for Standard ONE edition and change it to simple socket count (don't count the cores). It is getting more expensive to use Oracle Standard ONE.

Answer 1

zaferaktan wrote:
Everybody should also know - and OPN folks confirmed this morning - that an Oracle Sales person does not have the "legal" authority to overwrite what is written in OLSA. Sales can not rewrite the OLSA. However, Sales can request changes or addendums to the specific contract, which are reviewed by Oracle Legal and approved by Sales senior management (right up to Charles and Larry if needed).
That said, very few Oracle employees are allowed to discuss any aspect of licensing terms. The official first point of contact is Sales, and they may only be the carrier pigeon of missives from the authority.
When someone buys Oracle, OLSA is the only legally binding document. Everybody should keep the copy of the OLSA which is in effect at the time of their purchase, given that OLSA can be modified at a later date from the actual purchase.That happens to be true of any license or sales agreement, from Oracle or not. Also note that if you purchase support, renewals may affect the original OLSA.
And it's one of the reasons old timers in these forums (such as Dan and myself) will prefix nearly any license discussion in the forums with "check with sales" and suffix it with "and anything you hear on the internet is probably useless in a court of law when you get audited".
and after all that - thanks for digging into the details and posting them.
(With the warning to any others using the information that the facts need to be reconfirmed for each individual case and date. A judge usually frowns on a defense of "It happened to a friend of a friend of mine" or "I read it on the internet")
Edited by: Hans Forbrich on Sep 8, 2009 9:43 PM
By the way - what you write is a change of policy. At one time, a box that could support 4 CPU but only had 2 CPU installed would not qualify for SE1. Good news indeed.