Oracle XE database and Forms 6i - licensing / pricing

Question

Hello there,
I have been researching how Oracle Forms can connect to a "currently supported" Oracle Database. I have found (from several other great posts), that Oracle Forms 6i (patch 18) will be able to connect to Oracle Database Express Edition (by changing the character set values).
Knowing that, what would I need to do in order to get the "proper" licensing of the two products:
(1) Oracle Database Express Edition - I believe is free (as long as we stay below the 4GB maximum), and
(2) Oracle Forms and Reports 6i
I already have the Forms and Reports builder and runtimes. I just want to make sure I have the correct and necessary licenses.
Any information / insight into this issue would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

Answer 1

This is all verified by OPN and Oracle Sales folks :
Only the "client/server" runtime for 6i is free. If you are going to deploy your forms via the web, then the 6i runtime is NOT free. So lets make it clear.
Now, you can not purchase Forms 6i (obsolete product) - what you need to do is to purchase an iDS license - but download and use the Forms 6i developer. If you developed a client/server application with Forms 6i, then the c/s runtime is free.
If your application that you developed with Forms 6i is deployed via the web, then you need to purchase Oracle Forms/Reports deployment option license for the iAS 10gR2 or FMW 11g (which is available now). If you are planning to use SSO, Discoverer etc then you need to obtain a full stack license for the iAS 10gR2 (Enterprise Edition)
You can NOT have less then 5 named user plus license for the SE1. Be careful with the named user plus licenses - read the definition very carefully. The license is multiplexed at the front end and automated processes such as a cron job is also considered as a named user. For a business application you might want to consider using CPU based license for the SE1. For the SE and SE1, it is socket based - the processor count does not apply as it is for the EE version (unless you are using a MCM chip such as Power 5 for your Oracle box - that is a different story. MCM chips are considered differently.)
You can start with 6i client/server type application and XE - but explain the limitations to your end user (customer/s). They need to know that it is not a certified combination (if you are using 6i+ps18 against a db which 10gR2 and higher (including XE)) - and they need to understand the consequences. They also need to understand that when the db size grows - they need to upgrade to SE1 (or SE - depending on their business at that time).
I hope this is clear - when it comes to licensing - people might make mistakes. You can become an Oracle Partner Network member (basic level) for around 2K $ if it is approved by Oracle Corp. and then you can opt to directly work with Oracle or another reseller Partner. To become and ISV, there are documents you need to read on OPN and sign if you agree. The details are in those documents.
Note: you can also used "Term Based" licenses - which can help you to reduce your or your customer's licensing cost - depending on the project. See the Oracle Store (online) and read the licensing terms (OLSA) for the term based licenses. Sometimes it is better using a term based license with the processor license (SE1 for example) instead of using XE - if the data will grow quickly in a short period time or if you can not easily assign/determine named users.
Hope this helps.
R/ Zaf