Over the past two days, there have been some comments posted in forums about Red Gate Software's licensing agreement for SQL Backup. The clause in the license agreement referred to in these posts is designed to prevent the use of a single license on multiple machines by continually transferring the license between machines. We can see, however, that the wording of the license can be interpreted in a different, more sinister way. It was never intended to stop people from transferring licenses in the case of upgrades, replacement of old equipment, reorganization, or any other legitimate reason, and we apologize if customers or prospective customers interpreted it this way.

I believe that any customer who does business with Red Gate Software knows that we operate in an atmosphere of trust and respect. We are working now on changing our licensing terms to make our policies clear. In the meantime, if anybody is concerned about this issue, please contact me directly at nick.warren@red-gate.com.

While we welcome competitive comparisons of products in open forums, the recent postings regarding our licensing issues seem to carry another purpose: to spread unwarranted fear and alarm in an effort to undermine Red Gate's credibility. We do not think that this is the purpose of forums, and we will not engage in these types of exchanges.

As for the suitability of SQL Backup in an enterprise environment, nearly 4000 customers -- including many Fortune 500 companies -- have selected Red Gate's product as the best choice for critical backup needs. We invite you to compare our products to our competitors in an environment of full disclosure, and send your comments to us, or post them on public forums, where we will be glad to respond.

Nick Warren

Head of Customer Support, Red Gate Software