SAP web services developer licensing discussion

[esjewett]

There was an epic discussion on Twitter last Friday about licensing around SAP's web services. Or as @qmacro called it, a "licensing thread of death." These are my thoughts and concerns, hopefully a little more clearly than on Twitter. Links to relevant resources are below.

Disclaimer: I do not speak for SAP and I am not a lawyer. These thoughts are beliefs I have developed through talking with people at SAP and in the community and through carefully reading the publicly available licenses and terms of use documents linked below.

Oh yeah, and I had a cold (all better now). Sorry about any sniffling that may have made it into the video.

SAP web services licensing from Ethan Jewett on Vimeo.

Links to resources discussed in the video blog:

• Enterprise Services Workplace - http://esworkplace.sap.com/ - documentation on and test platform for the Enterprise Service Repository (ESR)
• Netweaver Developer License Agreement (NDLA) - http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/503a0f2f-0497-2d10-c2a6-e6ac63446... - Note especially the sections about what constitutes an Addon and what you are allowed to do with Addons
• Code Exchange Terms of Use and registration - http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/code-exchange-reg - This has much less language around enterprise services, instead mentioning SAP APIs, but does reference the NDLA and talks about how you are allowed to distribute Addons