Is EnterpriseDB Express Gone?

I was at the EnterpriseDB web site recently and noticed that the downloads have changed a bit. I no longer see a download for EnterpriseDB Express. If you remember a while back, I had found an annoyance with the installation of the express version.

Now you go right to the advance server download and get a messsage.

You have downloaded EnterpriseDB Advanced Server. Currently, EnterpriseDB Advanced Server 8.2 requires a Product Key in order to use the software above 1 CPU, 1 GB of memory, and 6GB of data. This product key will be removed from future releases of EnterpriseDB Advanced Server.

The message also provides a license key so that you can install the software. Kudos EnterpriseDB. I appreciate it. I'm not opposed to an express version. Actually, I think it makes a lot of sense. But before implementing it, the software should be able to limit itself.

It looks like that's what they plan to do.

I also noticed a new feature/offering. EnterpriseDB now offers a Developer Support Pack.

Need some help getting started with EnterpriseDB Advanced Server? Sign up for 6 months of technical support today for just $99. This Developer Support Pack is to be used for development only and not for production implementations.

That is an incredibly reasonable price for a developer to get up to speed. I didn't read the details but if that allows a developer access to phone support, $99 for half a year can't be beat.

oracle enterprisedb

EnterpriseDB Install Annoyance

This is just a little peeve of mine. When you install EnterpriseDB, you can choose either a full production license or the free EnterpriseDB Express version. On my laptop, I want to run the express version. I don't need it to use more than 1 gig of ram, more than 1 cpu or more than 6gb of disk. But I can't even install it because my hardware exceeds those specs.



Oracle Express Edition has the same limitations as EnterpriseDB Express (and so does Microsoft SQL Server Express), but Oracle (and MS) limit their hardware usage by building the limits into the software. You can install the software on hardware as big as you have and the software will limit itself while it is running.

The EnterpriseDB installer won't even let you install. That also has me wondering about using EnterpriseDB. Oracle allows a developer to download, install and use the full blown enterprise edition of Oracle without any kind of key or license beyond the developer license. It looks like developers can only freely use EnterpriseDB on low end software. I wonder how a developer developing for large databases could do so?

It just seems odd that open source developers complain about Oracle but Oracle has a more developer-friendly license than EnterpriseDB. I guess it is a side effect of the way EDB licenses for support vs for the software? I have a question open on the EDB support forum. I'll keep everyone posted on this topic.

oracle enterprisedb express license edb edbx