CPU_COUNT and licensing (Windows box)

[JMac]

But how do word the query without getting them excited and presenting me with a demand for $10 zillion...

I'll let you know.

[marist89]

From http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/071904multicore.html

While most software vendors still are feeling their way around the multi-processor issue, Oracle recently made changes in its contract language to ensure that there is no confusion. In April, the vendor changed its license agreement to redefine its processor metric to explicitly state: "For the purposes of counting the number of processors which require licensing, a multi-core chip with 'n' processors shall be counted as 'n' processors."

One reason for the confusion is that software vendors have not regarded chips with simultaneous multithreading (SMT) or Intel's Hyper-Threading technology, which make single processors work as though they were two processors, as more than a single processor.

"The reason for that is pragmatic, and that is that those two threads per core don't do anything like double the performance. It may be 10% to 25% to 30% performance improvement, but essentially SMT is a performance-enhancing technique to increase utilization of a processor core," says Gordon Haff, an analyst with Illuminata.

[JMac]

Update from Oracle Sales:

"Oracle does not charge for multithreading. A processor, also known as a core, is a set of one or more processor threads. The processor thread tracks execution of a software program thread. As a result, Oracle does not charge per number of threads.
We do however charge for multi core which, as suggested, is when a processor has two cores and as such is treated as 2 CPUs. If the customer has two multicore CPUs then he needs a 4 CPU license."