Baan: License Scheme Costs Everyone
Netherlands based Baan, the ERP vendor has a license scheme that
makes everyone who uses their software lose huge amounts of
time and money.
I have installed several Baan systems and every system has had a
problem running when trying to validate the license when upgrading the
system or changing license user numbers or whatever. The license
process has many complicated steps, puts a "brand" file under the root
directory and has several keys and codes that are about 40
characters long and needs root access.
Inevitably the complex license and validation process has a problem.
The software refuses to work properly and the customer has their
internal help desk flooded with problems, costing money and time.
Sometimes the system stops and customers have hundreds of employees
idled and money evaporates away.
When the licensing finally works any PC client that drops off the
network or reboots will put a license seat into oblivion. There is
no way to get back the license lost without stopping the license
server needed for every screen in Baan. This make the 7x24 service
a myth. Batch jobs die. Users scream. All so Baan can
inflate the number of licenses sold to the customer.
This bad license scheme causes customer service calls and
the baffled Baan support staff almost always ask for root
access to the customer system, which violates the customer's security.
This must cost Baan a lot of money and bad publicity. The customers
perceive the Baan product as far worse than it already is because
of down time caused by the stupidly complex licensing scheme.
A far simpler license scheme is needed. One with few steps and
fewer keys and codes. FlexLM is a common package for many applications
that realize that licenses are better run with a common API than a
homegrown botched mess. Baan has already realized a customer is
better off using a real database (Informix or Oracle) under Baan
than that cheezy Baan developed database (Triton).
Baan does not seem to understand that its product has system
administration problems when it requires root access to stop
and start; that it should not hide brand files under the root
directory; that dead license seats are not easily fixed.
Maybe Baan's current business troubles are partly
caused by obvious system administration problems that Baan has
never addressed. These problems cut profits by inflating support
costs and make their software look stupid.
The worst of it is that the problems described above are
trivial to fix.