From: mcsavaney_d@apollo.hp.com (#David McSavaney)
Subject: Re: OpenGl vs PEX
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 19:16:12 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Chelmsford, MA

In article <1at3l6INNpo4@fido.asd.sgi.com> kipp@warp.asd.sgi.com (Kipp Hickman) writes:
>
>In article <Bvpxw8.K4x@apollo.hp.com>, mcsavaney_d@apollo.hp.com writes:
>> What about the software author that is required to purchase OpenGL source
>> code to support platforms that do not provide OpenGL? What happens...
>
>This is confusion on your part.  A software developer doesn't have to
>pay $300,000 for a license.  Thats baloney.  Minimally, the license costs
>$25,000 for a spec license and the right to distribute a library called
>OpenGL (subject to the requirements of conformance, completion of the API,
>etc.).  Source code costs more (<= $75,000).  The right to redistribute
>the source code costs even more ($100,000).  Still way under $300,000 though.
>[ Please note - I don't know the exact numbers; the numbers I have used
>here are old, and are at worst, too large]

Kipp, I would appreciate being corrected here - my information shows the OpenGL
pricing as follows:

 .A Level I license costs $25,000. The licensee receives the OpenGL 
  specification and compliance suite, support information for licensees 
  wishing to develop their own implementations, and the right to distribute 
  such binaries to end users for a nondiscountable royalty of $5 per 
  copy.

 .A Level II license costs $100,000. The licensee receives an ANSI C 
  rewrite of the OpenGL specification,
  an ANSI C implementation of OpenGL suitable for 
  use as a porting base and an X server extension that understands 
  the proprietary OpenGL protocol.


 .A Level III license costs $300,000. The licensee receives the Level 
  I and Level II deliverables plus the right to redistribute modified 
  OpenGL source code to third parties who are already OpenGL source 
  licensees".
                      
Kipp, could can you please post the full price list. I am missing information
about warranty length and support/maintanence costs; is the only support
still remote telephone support at $260/hour? Also I am confused about
opening multiple remote displays - does that count as a single application 
and therefore falls under the $5 fee? Or does each display that is opened
need to return $5 to SGI?

>
>... Please remember
>that free isn't really free.  For HP it effectively is because they can absorb
>the engineering costs associated with turning the PEX-SI into something
>useful (any bets on whether HP is actually using the PEX-SI at all? :-)

I think I understand that you think that software authors will find
it less expensive to puchase OpenGL under the developer program
and port to the platforms they need rather than aquire and port PEX?
Is this so? If it is then, from personal experience, I think software
authors are much more inclined to use a development environment
that is supplied and fully supported by the platform hardware vendor,
rather than take a "mix and match" approach.

>
>> As for the Windows/NT comment - OpenGL is scheduled for
>> inclusion in NT for release 2, in 1994. (I stand corrected here if 
>> other information is available).
>When OpenGL is widely available in NT is as yet an unknown date.  1994 is
>probably the latest it would be available in NT, not the earliest.
>  
If anyone can determine the delivery date I would be very grateful.                                                                     

>> Apologies for the interruption.
>Marketing, did you say?  :-)  Did I mention that OpenGL
>will be available for HP machines from Nth graphics? :-)
>
You didn't, but Jerry has got really amazing performance results
for GL 4.0 on HP-UX.

Dave McSavaney
Workstation Product Marketing
Hewlett-Packard Company
                       
Not an official statement of Hewlett-Packard Company



Xref: sparky comp.graphics.opengl:27 comp.sys.sgi:14761