License

Personal Use
For personal use MegaZine3 is completely free; no limitations in number of books or pages.

So although it is allowed to modify the sources and configuration files and with that also get rid of the Preloader and background with MegaZine3 logo and link, we would like to see a little link to our homepage and a reference to MegaZine3 somewhere, though ;-)

Examples of for personal use are books like photo books, annual summary letters, family trees, travel guides, calendars, product reviews, … you name it!

As soon as used for commercial benefit (including making money in placing advertisements, advertising own services or products, …) a commercial license is required.

Testing
MegaZine3 also can be used free for tests, as long as such tests have no commercial benefits.

Education and Charity
For Education (Universities, Schools) and Charity Organizations, a MZ3-FREE license can be requested via our ContactUs page. We usually will grant such license after validation. An MZ3-FREE license is comparable with an MZ3-FLEX license. We might restrict the number of granted free licenses.

Commercial Licenses
We sell 3 different kind of license types, which usually cover >95% of the standard use cases.

Depending on the specific needs one of the following three commercial license types should be a good fit:

MZ3-FIX
The MZ3-FIX License is the renamed (old) MZ3-CL license. Ideal for use cases with high numbers of pages and/or Copies on media (DVDs, memory sticks, …)
 * Number of Titles: limited to one single Title (book, megazine.mz3 file)
 * Number of pages: unlimited
 * Online and Offline use
 * Life Span: unlimited
 * Maintenance: no Maintenance, no Maintenance costs
 * Update or upgrade costs: free updates and upgrades during Life Span

MZ3-FLEX
This license type is the perfect fit for small companies and Start-Ups with several but small publications or low number of copied Books on media. Maintenance: no Maintenance, no Maintenance costs Update or upgrade costs: free updates and upgrades during Life Span
 * Number of Titles: unlimited number of Titles (book, megazine.mz3 file)
 * Number of Online pages: limited to 500 parallel pages (+50% tolerance for the first license)
 * Number of Offline pages: limited to 50.000 pages delivered/published on media (copied on media like e.g. DVD, memory stick, …)
 * Life Span: unlimited

Also small periodicals like Newsletters are covered, as long as the number of pages kept online do not exceed the maximum of 500 pages (tolerance is 50%, so up to 749 pages is OK ;-)

Example for MZ3-FLEX

2 online brochures with 50 pages each, plus 1 monthly Newsletter with '''15…20 pages’’
 * all covered with one FLEX license, including all newsletters for 2 years
 * (2*50 + 12*20 *2) = 580 pages

When the maximum amount of pages is reached, old Newsletters must be taken off before the next Newsletter is published to not exceed the limit.

All that is covered with one MZ3-FLEX license, without any future additional payments

MZ3-TIME
This License type is the best fit for Periodicals. For Online or Offline publishing.
 * Number of Titles: Up to 5 parallel Titles (up to 5 different, named eJournals, eZines, Newspaper
 * Number of Editions: unlimited, i.e. unlimited number of megazine.mz3 files. Usually an edition is identified by its number and/or the date of issue
 * Number of Online pages: unlimited
 * Number of Offline pages: No Offline publications (copies on media like e.g. DVD, memory stick), no Downloads
 * Life Span: 12 months. After that time a new license is needed.
 * Archive Time: unlimited, no extra costs. Titles published under a valid MZ3-TIME License can stay online, also after the end of the Life Span.
 * Maintenance: no Maintenance, no Maintenance costs
 * Update or upgrade costs: free updates and upgrades during Life Span

Example for MZ3-TIME Three monthly eJournals plus one quarterly magazine plus 1 daily Newspaper: Total of 5 parallel Titles – covered with 1 MZ3-TIME License

Licenses for Hosting Services
For companies offering services to host MegaZine3 files (Books) Online the MZ3-HOST License is available. During the Life Span books can be modified and created. After the end of the Life Span no new books can be published but already books can stay online but no modifications allowed. The maximum number of Books is defined by the License category.
 * Number of pages: Unlimited
 * Life Span: 12 months
 * Number of Books

These 4 different categories for a MZ3-HOST License are available:
 * MZ3-HOST-S (small):        up to 50 Online Books
 * MZ3-HOST-M (medium):       up to 250 Online Books
 * MZ3-HOST-L (large):        up to 1.000 Online Books
 * MZ3-HOST-XL (extra large): up to 10.000 Online Books(on request)

Licenses for Publishers
For Publishing Houses we offer the MZ3-PUBL license Books can be offered for Offline use (on media like DVD) and/or Online use (password protected access for reading and download). During the Life Span books can be distributed and offered for download. After the end of the Life Span no more distribution (neither online as download/reading nor offline as copy on media) allowed.

The maximum number of Books is defined by the category of the License.
 * Life Span: 12 months
 * Number of Books

These 4 different sizes/categories of a MZ3-PUBL License are available:
 * MZ3-PUBL-S (small):       up to 25 Titles
 * MZ3-PUBL-M (medium):       up to 100 Titles
 * MZ3-PUBL-L (large):        up to 500 Titles
 * MZ3-PUBL-XL (extra large): up to 5.000 Titles

For details please see our pricelist and shop

LIFE SPAN, MAINTENANCE
The Life Span defines the time during that a “time limited license” like MZ3-TIME is active/valid and can be fully used.

MZ3-TIME, MZ3-HOST and MZ3-PUBL are licenses with a defined Life Span of 12 months (see license agreement for details).

To make continued use of the rights granted under the specific license, a new license must be purchased.

Maintenance is neither needed nor offered.

Version Updates and Upgrades are free during the Life Span.

COMPARISON OF VERSIONS V1.38 AND V2.0.0
The original version of MegaZine3, actually at release v1.38, was made available under the GPL license.

Please see our detailed comparison and feature list also

MegaZine3 v1.38
Version v1.38 still offers some advantages like:
 * Free for private and commercial use
 * Open source
 * Modifications free as long as development is done under the GPL license rules

We will continue to offer this version under the same, unchanged GPL license in future.

We even might work on bugs, but no new enhancements are planned.

Version v1.38 has on the other hand some disadvantages like:
 * Difficult to change the sources; although modularized very complex
 * All changes (besides basic configurations of the book layout) have to be done in the sources
 * Special license needed if developers want to sell the modified framework only (and not disguise sources)
 * Difficult to define a fair license model for commercial use

MegaZine3 v2.0
Changes and advantages that come with Version v2.0 no Flex or other tools needed, no compilation of flash files required.
 * Completely new design and development
 * New plugin concept with open interfaces under MIT license.
 * Development of own plugins now possible without a commercial license.
 * Modifications in the GUI (look & feel) now easily possible without programming:

Almost all GUI adjustments can be achieved with simple configurations in *.asul files (ActionScript User Language); XML files with kind of CSS style logic.
 * No development License needed
 * Many new and unique features like spreadpage (elements like images and video can spread across two adjacent pages, flexible utilization of the 2-page space), real zoom, liquid scaling, scroll bar support, search function, …
 * Comprehensive license model that will suit all needs (we can think of at the moment ;-)
 * Free for private use (no extra license needed)
 * free licenses for schools, universities and charity organizations on request and approval (free standard MZ3-CL license keys)
 * Easy and attractive reseller model; OEM prices, reselling of modified Sources, volume discount; all for an annual fee.
 * Corporate licenses are available for unlimited, worldwide use per company; for an annual fee
 * Full upgrade rights including major version releases during the one year maintenance period.
 * Patches can be downloaded without any limitations in time
 * For existing customers we offer new licenses with high discounts, no more annual maintenance extensions.
 * As with version v1.38 there is no limitation in the number of pages per book or time (exception: Corporate Licenses and Reseller Licenses need to be renewed on an annual base)

Disadvantage of Version v2.0
 * For commercial use now a license has to be purchased