I'm a bit unclear here as well. It's ok to build a web app, and charge users to access it, right? e.g. $5 per user per month type thing?
Taking this a little further, if you want to charge users based on their resource usage (assuming you write code to keep track of that in some way), is that ok? e.g. user A uses 5GB and pays $X per month, and user B uses 500MB and fits under some definition of free quota. Further still, I would assume that if users are being charged based on resource usage, then it makes sense to provide them with a screen showing them what their resource usage is - a dashboard. A couple of specific examples of things that are not allowed would be really helpful. I guess I'm wondering what it matters to google as long as resources get paid for? Cheers, Colin On May 13, 7:19 am, "Ikai L (Google)" <[email protected]> wrote: > It's not a violation for a developer to ask an organization to create an > account and charge for service to push versions to that application. In this > case it would be clear that the developer is charging for consulting time, > and the contract with the customer would state that the provided code will > not be provided. > > Just be aware that if these applications talk to one another, they would be > in violation of the clause in the terms that state that you should not > create applications that circumvent quota limitations. > > > > > > On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 6:20 AM, pythono <[email protected]> wrote: > > Maybe I'm a bit confused by the original question, but I always viewed > > the ability to hide source code as a major plus for using appengine. > > For independent developers, who don't have access to IP lawyers, this > > enables them to avoid the piracy problem entirely. I think the > > scenario he mentioned, explicitly repackaging and reselling the > > appengine service itself might be a violation, but does this extend to > > every such case? > > > To be more exact, do you think it's a TOS violation to sell the > > deployment of an application as a "service"? You aren't transferring > > any rights, as the customer has full capabilities to replace your > > deployment with his/her own code and is the only party who deals with > > App Engine billing (if the issue arises). The benefit of this is that > > you could write the code to "expire" after a time period and therefore > > sell subscriptions without worrying about someone violating your > > license. I'm considering this for a future application, so I'd be > > very interested to hear more.. > > > Thanks > > > On May 12, 11:19 am, "Ikai L (Google)" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I'm going to preface this with a warning that I am not a lawyer, this is > > > just my interpretation of the Terms of Service. > > > > It could be a possible violation: > > > >http://code.google.com/appengine/terms.html > > > > You may be in violation of this: > > > > 7.3. Unless Google has given you specific written permission to do so > > (e.g., > > > through an open source software license), you may not assign (or grant a > > > sub-license of) your rights to use the Google App Engine Software, grant > > a > > > security interest in or over your rights to use the Google App Engine > > > Software, or otherwise transfer any part of your rights to use the > > Software. > > > > By providing a dashboard on top of Google App Engine, you may be, in > > effect, > > > providing a sub-license. > > > > <http://code.google.com/appengine/terms.html>Is this scenario avoidable? > > > That is, it is not a violation to sell your software to another person. > > If > > > you're running Java, for instance, you can sell software in the form of > > JAR > > > files (these can be decompiled, reverse engineered, etc). Alternatively, > > you > > > can sell the software and provide the source, but license it so that it > > > cannot be resold - most companies buying software with source don't go > > into > > > the business of reselling it, and it gives them the flexibility of > > modifying > > > it. Both of these scenarios are allowed by the ToS. > > > > On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 4:45 PM, Ankur Gupta <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > Hi, > > > > > Assume someone wants to sell a custom CMS software that can run on > > > > Google App Engine. However this person doesn't want to sell/give > > > > access to the source code. > > > > > So now if someone put up a website and put the same Free Quota as GAE > > > > offers and the same pricing as GAE offers. It will have it's own > > > > registration process where in it will ask user the required domain > > > > name etc. Finally the CMS will be hosted on GAE and user will be > > > > provided with the dashboard access. > > > > > There is no desire to hide that this is hosted on Google App Engine. > > > > > My question is > > > > > a) Does this violate Google's Terms and conditions ? > > > > b) Is it possible that once the access to the dashboard is provided > > > > user can download the source code ? > > > > > Ankur > > > > > -- > > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > Groups > > > > "Google App Engine" group. > > > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > > . > > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > > > [email protected]<google-appengine%2Bunsubscrib > > > > [email protected]><google-appengine%2Bunsubscrib > > [email protected]> > > > > . > > > > For more options, visit this group at > > > >http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. > > > > -- > > > Ikai Lan > > > Developer Relations, Google App Engine > > > Twitter:http://twitter.com/ikai > > > Delicious:http://delicious.com/ikailan > > > > ---------------- > > > Google App Engine links: > > > Blog:http://googleappengine.blogspot.com > > > Twitter:http://twitter.com/app_engine > > > Reddit:http://www.reddit.com/r/appengine > > > > -- > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Google App Engine" group. > > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected]<google-appengine%2Bunsubscrib > > [email protected]> > > . > > > For more options, visit this group athttp:// > > groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Google App Engine" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected]<google-appengine%2Bunsubscrib > > [email protected]> > > . > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. > > -- > Ikai Lan > Developer Relations, Google App Engine > Twitter:http://twitter.com/ikai > Delicious:http://delicious.com/ikailan > > ---------------- > Google App Engine links: > Blog:http://googleappengine.blogspot.com > Twitter:http://twitter.com/app_engine > Reddit:http://www.reddit.com/r/appengine > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Google App Engine" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google App Engine" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en.
