OS License
I was really thinking about using a creative commons license until I read the FAQ and it said that you should not use the creative commons licenses for software. I was just wondering what you all think about that and if I should still use it anyways. I was going to use http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
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Kevin McGuire
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I did not expect that, sorry for suggesting it.
Hmm. Do some research on this one maybe it might be better:
Hmm. Do some research on this one maybe it might be better:
This License governs use of the accompanying source code and any translation of the source code, and your use of the source code or any translation of the source code constitutes acceptance of this license.
The intention of this license is to make the source code and any translation of the source code usable for educational purposes only, and any questionable clauses, conditions, or restrictions should be made clear through written and signed communication with the licensor.
Any translation of the source code is to be understood as a compilation, interpretation, or any human or automated modification which causes the result to retain partial or complete intended functionality which may not resemble the original form.
You may use this source code or any translation of the source code for any non-commercial purpose, subject to the restrictions in this license. Some purposes which can be non-commercial are teaching, academic research, and personal experimentation. You may also distribute this source code and any translation of the source code with books or other teaching materials, or publish the source code and any translation of the source code on websites, that are intended to teach with the use of the source code or any translation of the source code for non-commercial purposes.
You may not use or distribute this source code or any translation of the source code or any derivative works in any form for commercial purposes. Examples of commercial purposes would be running business operations, licensing, leasing, or selling the source code or any translation of the source code or distributing the source code or any translation of the source code for use with commercial products.
You may modify this source code or any translation of the source code and distribute the modified source code or any translation of the source code for non-commercial purposes, however, you may not grant rights to the source code or any translation of the source code or derivative works that are broader than those provided by this License. For example, you may not distribute modifications of the source code or any translation of the source code under terms that would permit commercial use, or under terms that purport to require the source code or any translation of the source code or derivative works to be sublicensed to others.
You may use any information in intangible form that you remember after accessing the source code or any translation of the source code. However, this right does not grant you a license to any of the licensor's copyrights or patents for anything you might create using such information.
In return, it is required that you agree:
1. Not to remove any copyright or other notices from the source code or any translation of the source code.
2. That if you distribute the source code or any translation of the source code, you will include a verbatim copy of this license.
3. That if you distribute derivative works of the source code or any translation of the source code you do so only under a license that includes all of the provisions of this License.
4. That if you have modified the source code or any translation of the source code or created derivative works, and distribute such modifications or derivative works, you will cause the modified files to carry prominent notices so that recipients know that they are not receiving the original source code or compilation of this source code. Such notices must state: (i) that you have changed the source code or any translation of the source code and (ii) the date of any changes.
5. THAT THE SOURCE CODE OR TRANSLATION OF THE SOURCE CODE COMES "AS IS", WITH NO WARRANTIES. THIS MEANS NO EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR ANY WARRANTY OF TITLE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. ALSO, YOU MUST PASS THIS DISCLAIMER ON WHENEVER YOU DISTRIBUTE THE SOURCE CODE OR TRANSLATION OF THE SOURCE CODE OR DERIVATIVE WORKS.
6. THAT THE LICENSOR WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES RELATED TO THE SOURCE CODE OR TRANSLATION OF THE SOURCE CODE OR THIS LICENSE, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT THE LAW PERMITS, NO MATTER WHAT LEGAL THEORY IT IS BASED ON. ALSO, YOU MUST PASS THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY ON WHENEVER YOU DISTRIBUTE THE SOURCE CODE OR TRANSLATION OF THE SOURCE CODE OR DERIVATIVE WORKS.
7. That if you sue anyone over patents that you think may apply to the source code or any translation of the source code or anyone's use of the source code or any translation of the source code your license to the source code or any translation of the source code ends automatically.
8. That your rights under the License end automatically if you breach it in any way.
9. The licensor reserves all rights not expressly granted to you in this license.
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chase
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Creative commons licenses are really meant for works of art such as books and plays. They don't cover linking against libraries (GPL vs LGPL) and other things you only encounter with software. The licenses don't prohibit software, it would just be better if you used one of the popular licenses from this page http://www.opensource.org/licenses/category. Creative Commons does have human readable versions and logos for the GPL and LGPL, see http://creativecommons.org/license/cc-gpl?lang=en and http://creativecommons.org/licenses/GPL/2.0/.
I use this license:
It could probably be reworded for a wiki. Though, considering the suggestion of CC licenses, maybe that's too minimal 
Code: Select all
You may use this code for any purpose whatsoever. Any damages caused by use
of this code or any binaries produced with it is not the responsibility of
the author. If this code is used for illegal purposes, the author is also not
responsible. There is no warranty.Does the Apache license allow people to sell the code or the product? I'm sorry I really don't understand legal talk.
http://opensource.org/licenses/apache2.0.php
http://opensource.org/licenses/apache2.0.php
Seriously I think a license can say whatever you want it to say.
Just make sure its not "too openly interpreted" because then people will insert their own interpretations in places where you didn't expect them to.
If you want to license source code but you don't want them to sell the source code or compile it and sell it then you should just use a commercial license and set the price at 0.
Make sure they fill out some sort of application and sign it so you can sue them later on. They can't say they did not understand the license and it was your fault for having a vague license if they sign a paper saying they completely understand the license. And also use a bill of sale even if you charge them nothing for it. (for example a free trial from microsoft is a regular commercial license that expires after 120 days and cost nothing.)
You have the right to deny a license to anybody no matter what license you choose so even open source is not a free-for-all- as long as you don't intentionally put such a clause in your license.
One thing is for sure, if a large company uses your code and intentionally violates your license be prepared to spend alot of money trying to sue them. Most of the time large software companies purposely do this and settle when the small companies sue them and they pay pennies on the dollar in a settlement and still get to use your code. As a matter of fact Microsoft is a perfect example of a company that "acquires" software this way especially in its earlier days.
As a matter of fact internet explorer was licensed from a small company in an agreement that they would receive half of the revenues from sales- but Microsoft screwed them by giving away explorer for free and eventually they were sued and settled for a mere 8 million dollars and continued to give out iexplorer. If Microsoft was to sell iexplorer for even 10 dollars that would be possibly 500 million dollars in revenues given to that small company so thats why i said "a mere 8 million".
Just make sure its not "too openly interpreted" because then people will insert their own interpretations in places where you didn't expect them to.
If you want to license source code but you don't want them to sell the source code or compile it and sell it then you should just use a commercial license and set the price at 0.
Make sure they fill out some sort of application and sign it so you can sue them later on. They can't say they did not understand the license and it was your fault for having a vague license if they sign a paper saying they completely understand the license. And also use a bill of sale even if you charge them nothing for it. (for example a free trial from microsoft is a regular commercial license that expires after 120 days and cost nothing.)
You have the right to deny a license to anybody no matter what license you choose so even open source is not a free-for-all- as long as you don't intentionally put such a clause in your license.
One thing is for sure, if a large company uses your code and intentionally violates your license be prepared to spend alot of money trying to sue them. Most of the time large software companies purposely do this and settle when the small companies sue them and they pay pennies on the dollar in a settlement and still get to use your code. As a matter of fact Microsoft is a perfect example of a company that "acquires" software this way especially in its earlier days.
As a matter of fact internet explorer was licensed from a small company in an agreement that they would receive half of the revenues from sales- but Microsoft screwed them by giving away explorer for free and eventually they were sued and settled for a mere 8 million dollars and continued to give out iexplorer. If Microsoft was to sell iexplorer for even 10 dollars that would be possibly 500 million dollars in revenues given to that small company so thats why i said "a mere 8 million".
Re: OS License
Just use a license that says: You can use the code for any non-commercial uses, but you can't redistribute it without permission.frank wrote:Okay I wanted to get this out of the way before I start letting people have access to any of my source code. I need to figure out what to put in my license. Here is what I want:
People to be able to use my source code freely in a non commercial project.
But I don't people to be able to use enough of my code that in 5 years if I were to make my OS a commercial project that they could just release a free version that is just like it. Does anybody get what I am saying?
It's restrictive, but i sounds like what you want.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_License Basically, its a bsd licence. Any source files from the original project must contain the licence header verbatim, you must include a verbatim copy of any NOTICES file included with the source (that contains attribution notices) and you must make it clear which source files you have modified. You are allowed to sell object/executable versions of the project or derived works, but the original authors must be acknowledged.frank wrote:Does the Apache license allow people to sell the code or the product? I'm sorry I really don't understand legal talk.
http://opensource.org/licenses/apache2.0.php
Regards,
John.