VML FAQ & HOWTO

What kind of money are we talking about ?

The goal is to raise approx EUR 6000 a month.

What do we get in return ?

A Moral License to make any kind of big or small money running Varnish on your website, without feeling bad about the poor sucker who created it and his two poor kids, etc etc.

On a less abstract level, the Varnish project gets more of my time and attention, to improve the tool you use to get your website to run.

What do we not get in return ?

A moral license is not a service- or support-contract of any kind.

For that, sales@varnish-software.com is your provider.

Isn’t this more a sort of sponsorship than a license ?

Somebody, started the rumour that the name was chosen to sneak this expense into your IT departments budget, along with other software licenses, rather than put it under your marketing department, where all sponsorships belong and where it would compete with the local soccer team.

That rumour is very possibly true. I might even have started it myself. Possibly right here.

Can I pay for a sponsorship instead ?

Sure, I’m game.

At least as long as your marketing department does not expect me to hang around at “events” or dump thick binders, full of proper logo placement and pantone colors on me.

Send me an email.

I have a contract with Varnish-Software, do I also need a VML ?

No.

First: Nobody needs to buy a license, it is entirely voluntary.

Second: Varnish-Software already supports Varnish development, so you already contribute to the project that way.

Third: Thanks, the support is much appreciated.

How do we know you are not buying a tropical island for the fortune you are going to make this way ?

First reason: I have red hair, I get sunburns from blue LEDs.

Second reason: All accounting will be public, on these webpages.

Third reason: I didn’t do that last time:

We don’t want our name on your webpage ?

Give me a ficticius company name or secret token to use on the public page, as long as I have the real one for the invoicing, the public side of this can be anonymized.

Do we get an invoice ?

Yes, the moral license is bought from my registered danish corporation, and you will receive an invoice in .pdf via email.

Danish customers and EU citizens will have to pay 25% danish VAT.

EU companies avoid the VAT by providing me with their VAT/tax-ID.

People and companies outside EU pay no Danish VAT.

How does this work in practice ?

You send me an email, and tell me:

• How much do you want to pay for your license ?
• Do you want to pay it monthly or quarterly ? (or onetime ?)
• What name should appear on the web-page ?
• What name should appear on the invoice ?

Then I send you an invoice via email, which shows up in the accounting here with a number and a due-date, but not your name.

When the invoice is paid, this shows up in the accounting here, along with your name.

Do we get fancy license certificates ?

If you need one, we can arrange that too.

Are you interested in small amounts of money ?

Yes and No.

If the banks make more on fees, than I do on what remains after their fees have been deducted, I am not interested.

Rule of thumb: amounts less than approx 100 EUR/USD benefits mostly the banks

The company I work for make a fortune with Varnish, but the Mgt. does not want to buy a moral license. What should I do ?

Don’t worry about it, they probably have their reasons.

I cannot afford a license, is there some other way I can show my appreciation ?

Absolutely, a kind & happy email is always nice to receive.

There is also my Amazon Wishlist

Hey we should post this to digg, reddit, and 742 other sites, you have never heard about, so everybody in the world hears about this!

Please don’t.

Such exposure to people who don’t know what Varnish is will not help me in any way, quite the contrary, it will probably just end up wasting my time.

But feel free to forward this to other Varnish users you know: That is the proper audience.

Seriously, is this crappy web-page written in HTML4.01 Transitional in vi(1), by somebody who knows nothing about webdesign ?

Yes, that actually used to be the case, but now it’s written using Sphinx and RST, and that’s much nicer isn’t it ?

You did not answer my question here...

Please take off your tin-foil hat for a 30 second, and I will give the ol’ mind-reader beam a shot again...

Got it.

Hmm.

I think it is down the first corridor, third or possibly fourth door on the right.

There is some kind of picture of a stick-figure man on the door.

What ? No ? Really ??!

Ok, you’ll have to send me the question via email then...