No restriction on where you can use the Openedge UltraControls for .NET product

Since the release of the GUI for .NET with OpenEdge 10.2A there has been a lot on uncertainity or even rumors about the license conditions for the OpenEdge UltraControls. The biggest – and very important – unanswered point so far was whether the .NET Controls obtained as the OpenEdge UltraControls can only be used in OpenEdge development tools or anywhere the product can technically be used.

The OpenEdge UltraControls are de facto the same set of controls as the Infragistics NetAdvantage® for Windows Forms. Progress is just a reseller, giving the product a new name on the price book and license sheets. We have discussed this topic a number of times with Progress Software and Infragistics. According to both sources we have received the answer that there are no special license restrictions for the OpenEdge UltraControls. For a recent discussion of that topic on PSDN, see: https://community.progress.com/technicalusers/f/19/p/1066/2859.aspx#2859 .

Robert Straight, Progress OpenEdge product management, posted that “there is to my knowledge no restriction on where you can use the Openedge UltraControls for .NET product.”

To our understanding this means that there is no restriction that would keep us from using the OpenEdge UltraControls in the Microsoft Visual Studio. Potential use cases for this would be either the creation of more specialized, customized controls that will be deployed as an part of an OpenEdge GUI for .NET application. But it would also allow the use of the OpenEdge UltraControls for building Microsoft .NET WinForms applciations. This would be very attractive for a team of developers where Progress OpenEdge development is completed by native .NET application development.

Price wise the OpenEdge UltraControls license is very competitive to obtaining the Controls from Infragistics directly. Progress sells the controls in their typical model of a purchase entry price with annual maintenance fees. Infragistics sells the Controls under a subscription model. Typically from the second year on the total cost for the controls is less when the controls were obtained from Progress Software.

Furthermore when the large part of the development using the Infragistics control set is happening in the OpenEdge environment, the fact that Progress Software will provide central technical support for potential issue with the .NET Controls in the OpenEdge environment is an advantage that in case of a need should not be underestimated.

The only drawback of using the OpenEdge UltraControls is the Progress’ slow update policy. Progress will only update to more recent versions of the Controls with new releases of OpenEdge, Progress will pick up Infragistics patches or service releases with their own service packs. Typically Infragistics releases between two and four releases of the control set (named by the year and a sequence number) whereas Progress Software usually releases a single release per year. Currently we are in a two years period between the release of OpenEge 10.2B and OpenEdge 11.0.0. This currently causes a lack of innovation in the Infragistics Controls provided by Progress Software. The most visible feature we are missing here is the support for the “scenic ribbon” known from Microsoft Office 2010 or Windows 7.

For details about the Infragistics NetAdvantage® license, follow this link: https://www.infragistics.com/legal/license
To our knowledge this license applies to the OpenEdge UltraControls as well.