Maple on Fedora

D. Hugh Redelmeier hugh at mimosa.com
Mon Mar 23 17:08:27 UTC 2009


| From: "Smith, Herb" <herb.smith at boeing.com>

| I have used Mathematica on Fedora for a number of years.  I have found
| that if I contact Mathematica and explain that I have updated my OS and
| need a new password for the new configuration, that I get what I need
| with no problem.  

Good to hear.

Perhaps I should include more details.

The version my daughter has is no longer supported.  In fact, it
wasn't even supported when she got a new computer about two years
after her initial purchase.

Since some system libraries were statically linked into the program,
it was not possible to run the binary that she had on a then-current
Fedora.

Since that version of Mathematica was no longer supported, she could
not get that version linked with newer libraries.

There was no upgrade path for Mathematica versions.  She had an
inexpensive student license and would need to buy it all over again
(she was and is still a student).  Perhaps a full-priced license has
a discounted upgrade path.

She only uses Mathematica once in a blue moon.  I would guess that she
would use it more if she had it at hand.  But she doesn't feel that
her usage would justify relicensing.  Besides, she feels that that
would be an invitation for the same thing to happen again.

Perhaps we were misinformed about Wolfram's policy but we got it from
conversations with their support folks.

Anyway, the take-away is that binary licenses don't always mix well
with open platforms due to those platforms' quick evolution.  This is
especially true of Fedora as opposed to, say, *BSD or RHEL/CentOS.




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