Open Source Licenses and their implications for businesses
I consider enhancing or changing existing open source projects to build a business. The open-source licenses can have great implications on the ability to build a business around. GNU, for example, seems to require to also release your source code.
Does anybody here have a deep understanding of the different licenses and shed some light on how they influence the possibility to build a business (if you build on top of existing projects)?
Thanks a lot.
Hi! I used to work with a company offering professional support for, and commercialising, open source software (OSS).
The type of project are you thinking of commercialising will dictate the types of licenses you can consider using.
The most permissive copyright is public domain [1] (aka the Unlicense). SQLite is an example of a popular project released in the public domain. Anybody may freely take public domain source code and do anything they like with it, including releasing it under another license.
MIT, BSD, and Apache 2.0 are permissive OSS licenses that can be used in any way as long as you include a copy of the license and attribution with any distributions. Nginx [2] is an example of a BSD-like license. These licenses are very short and easy to understand. I only use projects with these types of permissive licenses for my side project [3].
Mozilla and GNU Public License variants (eg: MPL, GPL, LGPL, GPLv2, GPLv3) are less permissive and need to be well understood before deciding to integrate, especially in the case of creating derivative works. Sometimes projects that have been licensed under a GPL variant can be licensed under a more permissive license by contacting the project owners.
You can safely decide to build on any Public Domain project and not have any obligations. You can build on top of a permissive license but if you distribute your software you will need to include a file that contains the copyright and attribution from the product. Choosing to build on top of a product released under a GPL variant is tricky in that it depends on your use case and which license variant.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain
[2] http://nginx.org/LICENSE short and sweet
[3] https://www.statchup.com/ is built on technology released under permissive OSS licenses
Great insights. That's how I understood it as well. Thanks a lot.
Very nice description.
Could you explain "distribution" a little more?
Is server-side code in a SaaS product distributed?
Is client-side code?
Are only desktop/mobile applications distributed?
Hi, distribution means licensing software for somebody else to use. Usually a SaaS is not licensing software for somebody else to use, they're selling access to a managed system.
Generally the OSS licenses all allow unrestricted usage of the software (there are exceptions, for example recent Redis licenses include usage restrictions targeted at cloud vendors).
In the GPL variants it gets more nuanced when it comes to modification (ie: changing code, adding code, or linking code) and distribution (ie: licensing code and/or products to others) and the answer for a SaaS, or any usage, becomes "it depends". Companies can and do go down this route however it requires more due diligence than working with permissive OSS licenses.
It's worth pointing out that in this area certain countries do not recognise copyright. China and Russia are examples where companies might have an advantage due to not being required to adhere to copyright and intellectual property rights law.
Generally, SAAS would be not distributing it (i.e. if you are installing it on servers you are running, or in Heroku or something similar, you would not be distributing it).
Desktop/mobile applications or if you sell software more as an installable product those all would be distribution.
Client-side javascript gets more interesting. You probably would have to research, read more about that case. I suspect that is probably distribution based on my understanding of it...but definitely more research/reading required.
Thanks, that how I understood it too. Client-side JS is really some grey area.
In such case you can offer a license fee for commercial license where you don't need to release your source code ...
there are projects which already have such arrangements ...
https://sidekiq.org/ is best example of such project ...
I have my own open source project and this is just my personal opinion.
If you want to build on the top of existing open - source project that you want to commercialize it is best to talk with the owner of the project and be honest about it ... and even talk about license fee ...
A lot of open source developers don't make any money for their work ...
It can be hurting to see someone else making money out of your work ... And does not care to pay anything !!
Great example! Thanks for sharing! What's your project?
Yes, I agree with the later as well.
you are welcome ... my project is available on https://nearbyshops.org
Source Code : https://github.com/SumeetMoray/Nearby-Shops-End-User-Android-app
if you like it ... you are welcome to use this project for commercial use ... or build your business !
That's so cool.
I'll definitely give your system a try.
I developed a platform for regional and sustainable products... www.zweimalfreude.at. It's all in German, so not sure how much you can get out of it. It's early on in the development, but it's also becoming a marketplace for regional shop owners. Funny how close this is to yours... at least at a first sight.
Thank you ...
ha ha ... I have google translate ... so i can see everything in English :)
Yes its pretty close ... our concept is quite similar ...
Nearby Shops is designed for selling something locally within same city .. but its mobile first platform ... If people in your country like to buy using mobile phones then it can be a good option !!
I will be happy to help you and collaborate with you ! if you want to build something out of it !!