Alternatives to Open Source
There are many ways to license software. None is legally privileged. Contract law allows parties to license software under almost any terms and conditions that people can dream up. Copyright and patent law acts as a backstop, preventing anyone from copying, modifying, distributing, making, using, or selling protected software without the licensor's permission—but otherwise leaving to the parties themselves the terms and conditions of their licenses.
Open source software distribution is a young but maturing business model. Enormously successful software has been created and is available worldwide, usually for free. Despite this success, companies often refuse to “go all the way” with open source, afraid that giving ...
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