Notes licensing: Not so mysterious

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Keywords: Notes, Domino, license, CEO, Express
Technical Level: All

One of my frustrations about Notes/Domino is the licensing model. Every time I think I understand it, Lotus seems to change things. When one of my customers asks me about the best way to purchase Notes/Domino for their organization, I frequently answer, "Let me look into that," instead of knowing the answer off the top of my head.

This article aims to demystify Notes/Domino licensing. I wrote it to help my readers, and also to help myself understand the options more thoroughly.

The key concept for Notes/Domino licensing is that you must have three things in order to use this software legally.

Given this background, let's look at the four licensing options that Lotus offers, organized from simple to complicated.

Since A La Carte is the most complicated licensing scheme, here are some typical scenarios and how they are licensed.

Please note that the terms User Express and Server Express are my terms not Lotus'. I find they clarify the purpose o

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f the various Express offerings.

I should also point out that there are some details I have glossed over, such as user rights to Lotus Instant Message features. I plan to address these in a future article.

For more information see

Chuck Connell is president of CHC-3 Consulting, which helps organizations with all aspects of Domino and Notes.

MEMBER FEEDBACK TO THIS TIP

The article does not distinguish that with the Notes Collaboration Express, you do NOT pay for the server license (see IBM Web site), just the number of user licenses -- or should you?

—Malcolm P.

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I thought this was pretty clear in the article, maybe not. With Collaboration Express, you pay per-person. There is no separate server license.

—Chuck Connell, tip author

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