I'm enquiring regarding the licenses for the server version of PrimoCache. I'm not a business but just an enthusiast who runs Server 2003 Enterprise X86 on their personal computer. I've been using it in beta for a while now and just noticed the trial extensions are over. I decided to see exactly how much it would cost for registration and figured 'eh not too bad I guess' for the personal licenses till I realized that's only for the desktop version. Then I looked at the Server version and my jaw dropped providing nothing more than an inflated license cost for businesses only.
Is there any possibility for a personal license available for it at all? It would be a shame to have to drop PrimoCache just because of my OS choice.
Unfortunately, Romex is far from the only company to have a pricing differential for Server users. However I would suggest their policy could be improved, since business users are likely to want per-seat licensing, with discounts for larger sites (WinRAR's pricing policy is a good example) while personal users may prefer a "family" license covering all computers in a single household (with a limit of 4-5 systems), removing the need to buy a new license when another computer is added.
That's quite the shame really...
It would be nice if there would at least be specific exceptions made for users running server versions of windows under a desktop environment. If one would have to prove the such I could provide remote access as needed for them to see it as true or any other proof as needed. I could use other caches if there are any i guess.. but primocache is also strongly reminiscent of SmartMON with the cache hit rate from back in the Win9x days for systems running in compatibility mode which I love about it.
SmartDrive...wow, that brings back the memories (not all good...). However that hit rate graph is a great deal better than what PrimoCache currently offers and Romex could certainly improve in this area.
I can't see Romex making an exception as you request since (a) it would involve significant work for each purchase and (b) it raises legal liability issues (what happens if your system develops problems after being accessed remotely?). If there is to be any change, it would need to be to general pricing and I have no idea what the costs/benefits would be for Romex - only that personal users of Server editions are likely to be a very small minority.
That leaves you with alternatives, there's SuperCache, but SuperSpeed also charge more for server versions and their prices ($450/$750) make PrimoCache look a bargain; and eBoostr Pro (currently discounted, but doesn't seem to have been updated for a while). This isn't the place to discuss them in detail though.
Being as there isn't any option for a personal license currently... will there /ever/ be an option for a personal license for server versions at all even if it were a slight bit more expensive than the desktop version without resorting to a business license for personal non-commerical use? NO other options really for caching other than primocache in my intended purposes as I have been planning to use a physical ramdrive for a persistant L2 Cache soon once I get it and other cache solutions appear to not allow write caching on the boot volume. Figured 4gb of DDR-Ram with an internal battery backup for the purpose would do just the trick due to zero access times and infinite longevity.
My suggestion is you engage Romex directly on pricing exceptions. Unfortunately, it's a seller's market as Primocache does not currently have a direct competitor other than Windows itself and the falling price of SSDs. Memory caches (and SSD based L2 for HDDs) will always be faster but the differential is closing for a given investment.
I'm enquiring regarding the licenses for the server version of PrimoCache. I'm not a business but just an enthusiast who runs Server 2003 Enterprise X86 on their personal computer. I've been using it in beta for a while now and just noticed the trial extensions are over. I decided to see exactly how much it would cost for registration and figured 'eh not too bad I guess' for the personal licenses till I realized that's only for the desktop version. Then I looked at the Server version and my jaw dropped providing nothing more than an inflated license cost for businesses only.
