Qt License Restructuring (Yet Another Price Increase)
Between a bad cold and project commitments, I haven't had much time to spare for my blog. I'm almost caught up and have turned my attention to evaluating Ultimate++, WxWidgets, and Qt for my mISV project.
Today, I received a phone call from a representative at TrollTech/Nokia about my inquiry on price of a dual platform Qt license. TrollTech no longer has pricing information on their website -- Qt is now expensive enough that you have to submit a form and a sales person will call you back.
This is, a recipe for disaster. I abhor talking to professional sales people, because I don't like to be convinced or pressured into purchasing something before my nerdy analytical mind says it is a good idea. But, I digress...
For those of you who aren't familiar with Qt, Qt is a C++ framework much like MFC, with a twist. Since the API/classes have been implemented on the different operating systems, you build your applications using the Qt classes and simply recompile your application and it will run on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux/X11, and now Windows CE.
In all honesty, it is a very good framework and you can knock out a very good application in a relatively short period of time if you invest the time and effort to learn the class architecture.
Further, if you write your code under the GPL license, you can use the Qt platform for free. However, if you wish to write a commercial application, you have to fork out a considerable amount of cash to do so legitimately.
The sales representative informed me that the licensing structure has changed. I scribbled down the new pricing:
Old Price Oct 1. Price Platform (per developer) $3,300 $3,700 single platform $4,950 N/A dual platforms $6,600 $5,300 all three platforms
The simplified version is that if you pull the trigger and purchase the dual platform license, you get the third (Linux) for free starting October 1st. Delay and your cost will rocket to $5,300 after October 1st.
Or to put this more succinctly: after October 1st, you will not be able to purchase just the dual platform option (Mac OS X and Windows). You will be forced to purchase the 3 platform license for more money. You are forced to take Linux platform, even if you don't want it.
To bring it home with a very practical example. Let's say that I am developing a shrink wrapped retail product for sell, with a sale price of $29.99. Assuming I purchase a Qt dual platform license to develop this product, I'm out $4,950. Given the price point of $29.99 (and disregarding hosting, bandwidth, transaction fees, etc.), I would have to sell 166 copies just break even.
Additionally, if I expand later and hire employees (or contractors) the licensing issue gets murky. The license is bundled to a developer (or more specifically, their email address). You can change the developer/email address attached to a license once a year.
Besides price, the only other criticism I have is that, as I found out, the framework is fluid. The graphics/canvas classes have changed in Qt4.5 and a portion of the Qt4 book seems to be obsolete.
Additionally, given the uncertainty of Nokia's future stewardship of Qt and the mercenary price increases, I have to wonder if getting locked into a vendor's platform is a good idea going forward.
