In the general fever for branding schemes, the Open Software Foundation is introducing its own programme for vendors to badge their products OSF certified. To be able to add this latest accreditation to what may already be a substantial collection of brandings and certifications, a vendor has to complete a set of tests and checks successfully, buy a distribution source code licence for the specific Foundation technology, and agree to a royalty structure for products shipped under the certification seal. OSF/1 1.1 and Motif test licences cost $35,000 and $10,000 respectively. Distributed Computing Environment tests will be conducted at the Foundation’s Cambridge, Massachusetts-based interoperability lab, and at a real-world site – fees to be decided. For an extra $75,000 a vendor can use the Foundation trademark for that specific product. Source distribution licences are $85,000 for OSF/1; $15,000 for Motif; and $150,000 for the Distributed Computing Environment. Product royalties are $65 down to $26 for OSF/1; $40 to $10 for Motif; and $15 to $5 for DCE, all per unit based on volume. Despite the Foundation’s attempt to harmonise some of the products based on its technology, it has come too late to net some of the larger fish. Apparently, the Digital Equipment Corp, Hewlett-Packard Co and IBM Corp DCE versions do not interoperate, and the Foundation is more than fretful that users will find this out, putting the product’s credibility at severe risk.
