University License fees are short sighted of Wolfram Research

From: Dave (nospam_at_nowhere.com)
Date: 03/18/05 

Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 23:12:09 +0000

I sent this post to the moderated group comp.soft-sys.math.mathematica 2
days and 22 hours ago, but it never appeared. It could be because of the
nature of the post, or it could be because of the fact I used a phony
email address. Anyway, I'll put the post here, with the same phony email
address. Sorry, I don't want any spam.

I mention the use of Matlab here, which on its own can't do symbolic
maths, although there is a toolbox for it. But I was pointing out the
effect the license fees are having on mathematical software. In many
cases, Matlab/Mathematica/Maple and perhaps others too are all just as
effective for many users.

**Sent to comp.soft-sys.math.mathematica on 16th March 2005 at 00:59**

I made the following point to a Wolfram Research employee in an email a
few years ago, but she was not in a position to do anything about it. I
long since forgotten it, but a few years later I thought I'd make it
here. Perhaps even Steven might think about it, should he ever read it!

At the university where I work we have a site license for Mathematica. I
know the approximate cost of this, and feel Wolfram Research are being
very short-sighted in charging so much for the university license.

The department administering the license has to recover the cost, so
they charge the individual users of the product. This is working out at
200 UK pounds per user per year - not an insignificant amount. At the
end of a year, the software stops working.

Although Wolfram Research would have no objections to everyone using
Mathematica inside our university (since we have a university site
license), in practice the cost of the license has to be recovered, so
the department administering it must charge for it. So it is not a "free
for all". Anyone at Wolfram Research who believes that a site license
for a university of 10,000 students means 10,000 students have easy
access to it is very mistaken. It might in some cases be on computers
all 10,000 have access to, but unless it is on their desktop PC, or in
computer rooms they use regularly, it will not get used.

I estimate, based on the cost of the annual license and the cost for a
copy, that only 1% of the university are paying for the right to use it,
despite us having a site license.

Now compare that to Matlab, which for many will do the same job.

We don't have a site license for Matlab, but a license for a very large
number of copies. It is "effectively" a site license, as the number of
users will always be far less than the number of licenses held.

The cost per user for Matlab is 100 pounds per copy, but this gives us
free upgrades for a period of 4 years, making the annual cost an average
of just 25 pounds per year. At the end of the 4 years, Matlab will not
stop working, but continues to function, but without further upgrades.

So in summary:

Mathematica = 200/year. Software stops working after 1 year.
Matlab = 25 pounds/year with free updates for 4 years. Software
continues working after the 4 years.

So Mathematica is costing 8x as much over a 4 year period, and even more
if you consider Matlab is not time-limited.

I'm *not* saying Wolfram are changing 8x what Mathworks are, but the
higher cost for the Mathematica site license pushes up the cost for
those that pay to use the software, which means less people use it,
which pushes up the price further. It is a vicious circle.

Is it any wonder that my own department, that used to use Mathematica
heavily, has now switched over to using Matlab? I'm one of the few (if
not the only) person to use Mathematica. My boss wants me to stop using
it, as anything I write will not be usable by anyone else in the group.

I suspect I'll have to switch myself - despite the fact I paid for "a
license" yesterday.

The mathematics department still use Mathematica, but I learned
yesterday they seem quite happy to use Maple instead. So I suspect that
when the Mathematica site license expires later this year, there is a
good chance the site license will not be renewed, but one obtained for
Maple instead.

I can't help feel this is so short sighted of Wolfram Research. I would
think they would be keen to almost give Mathematica away to
universities, knowing the short-term loss on these license fees would
give a long-term gain when students go out to work and buy software.

I've no wish to start a Maple/Mathematica/Matlab war. They are all
different, all have their strengths, but for many users, it is fair to
say any of the three will do what they need.

I will not be involved in the negotiation of any new license - just
making this observation as a reasonably senior post-doc scientist.

PS
Just as a slightly off topic comparison, I use a Texas Instruments
Digital Signal Processor. Texas give free seminars on using their DSP
chips. For student projects they will usually give away the DSP
evaluation kits (this is hardware, so has a real cost to make further
copies of). I once went to a seminar and the guy said basically "the
answer is yes if you want something free for academic use. Now what do
you want?" He said they would draw the line at very expensive hardware
for undergrad projects, but within reason you can get hardware free in
Europe.

I know one academic who got 20 TI DSP evaluation kits for free. He had
to write a short justification for this, but got them.

TI are well aware that if they introduce students to their range of DSP
chips, those students are going to want to use them rather than DSP's
from Motorola or whoever else makes DSPs.

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