Open Source Licenses

Slides that summarise my research on OSS licenses, used to give a talk to my dev team.

Transcript

1. 1 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com Open Source Licensing and Business Models February 6, 2012
2. Goals • Why do I need to know about software licenses? • Which open source license should I 2 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Which open source license should I choose for my project? • Where did the open source movement begin?
3. Goals • What’s the difference between open source and proprietary? • How do businesses use open source 3 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • How do businesses use open source software? • What are some examples of successful OSS businesses? • What are key attributes of OSS business?
4. Functions of Licenses • By not declaring a license, no rights given • Attribution, distribution, modification, usage 4 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com usage • Sometimes give license to patents • Trademark rights almost never granted • Restrict downstream licenses
5. Origins of OSS • First people to care about OSS? – University researchers – Programming enthusiasts 5 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Programming enthusiasts – Computer User Groups • The Free Software Movement
6. Origins of OSS - GNU • 1980s, almost all software proprietary • 1984, Richard Stallman wanted to return to roots of community development 6 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com to roots of community development • GNU project – Started FSF to raise funds – First order was an enforced free OS
7. Origins of OSS - GPL • GPL – Each GNU project had custom, similar license – GPL was written as general license for all 7 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – GPL was written as general license for all GNU software projects • Popular GPL tools – Nethack, Linux, Emacs, GCC – Wordpress, Audacity, VLC, 7-Zip, XBMC
8. GPL Growth • GPL is community protection – 17 articles of details – You’re with us or against us 8 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – You’re with us or against us • Copyleft license – Modifications must carry same license – GPL libraries force users to GPL applications – Spreads like a virus • Free in a world of expensive software
9. GPL Growth 9 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com
10. GPL Growth 10 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com
11. GPL Zone • Hobbyists safely build in GPL-land – Experiment, collaborate, innovate – No fear of business copyright claims 11 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – No fear of business copyright claims • Counter-culture movement against business – Nobody can own GPL code • How to sell open source software? • Can’t build assets • Can’t capitalize on “business secrets”
12. GPL Questions? 12 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com
13. Proprietary vs Free Software • “Proprietary” software – ‘Property’ • Leverages trademark law 13 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Leverages trademark law – Restrict modification, distribution, reverse engineering
14. Proprietary vs Free Software • “Free” software – Free ownership • “Free as in speech”, not “Free as in beer” 14 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • “Free as in speech”, not “Free as in beer” – Restrict very few rights from users – Original writer retains only attribution
15. OSS License Options • Permissive (Attributive) – APL, BSD, MIT • Copyfree (Weak copyleft) 15 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Copyfree (Weak copyleft) – MPL, LGPL • Strong copyleft – GPL, MS-RL • Can put anything in license
16. Permissive Licenses • New BSD, FreeBSD, MIT – Simple attribution and disclaimer – FreeBSD 16 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – FreeBSD • “Redistribution…is permitted” – MIT • “copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, sell copies” – Branches can use any license
17. Permissive Licenses • Apache – All patents and copyrights are freely given – Contributors must sign form 17 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Contributors must sign form • Grant potential patents – Must state which files you modified if redistribute – Must give attribution in NOTICE, source, docs, or displayed in program
18. Weak Copyleft Licenses • Mozilla Public License – Open-source friendly proprietary license – Strongly protects original work 18 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Strongly protects original work – Distinguishes between original author and contributors
19. Weak Copyleft Licenses • Mozilla Public License – Conditions of license • Contributors can only distribute modification, not 19 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Contributors can only distribute modification, not original source • Modifications and patents must be fully documented • Modified code must keep original license, new files can have any license – Draws license boundary at source (GPL is process level)
20. Weak Copyleft Licenses • Nokia, Sun, Yahoo, CPAL, etc. – Similar to MPL – Why so many? 20 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Why so many? • Want to provide conditions around giving a right • Provide conditions around executables/contributed APIs • Want to be compatible with another license • Afraid to subscribe to someone else’s rules
21. Strong Copyleft Licenses • GPL • Ms-RL 21 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com
22. Other Licenses • Creative Commons – Do *not* use for software – Doesn’t consider source v executable 22 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Doesn’t consider source v executable – Special verbiage for performing works and methods of giving credit
23. OSS License Questions? 23 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com
24. BSD vs GPL • GPL – Copyleft • GPL creates sticky code 24 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • GPL was designed to keep efforts in R&D • Locked from sale and copyright claims
25. BSD vs GPL • BSD – Permissive – Disseminate ideas – Free to *relicense* 25 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Free to *relicense* – Attract like-minded people – BSD creates evolving code • Neither can guarantee future availability – GPL dev community can change employer – BSD code can change license – Git is important, contribs have repo history
26. So, which license is best? • Effectively place in public domain? – MIT, BSD • Keep code in community, out of markets? 26 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Keep code in community, out of markets? – GPL • If business software and want contribs? – APL, MPL • All give credit and have disclaimer
27. BSD vs GPL Questions? 27 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com
28. Open Source Business • Apache Foundation • Mozilla Organization 28 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Red Hat, Inc. • Oracle • Nginx
29. Apache Foundation • Borne from Apache HTTP Server group • Meritocracy – members are individuals, not companies 29 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com not companies • All technical decisions are made in public mailing lists • 500k contributions and grants • ~270k infrastructure, ~90k public relations
30. Mozilla Organization • Borne from dying Netscape Navigator • Mozilla Foundation 30 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Composed of donations and volunteers – Fund core team by grants and investments – Develop standards, debate policy issues
31. Mozilla Organization • Mozilla Corporation – Wholly owned subsidiary of Moz Foundation – Unrestricted on income sources and amounts 31 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Unrestricted on income sources and amounts – Revenue • 120m from search engine contracts (Google) – Spendings • 63m software dev • 22m branding/marketing and admin
32. Red Hat, Inc. • Bob Young, Marc Ewing – ACC Corp, business for Unix stuff in 1993 – Created Linux distro called Red Hat in 1994 32 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Created Linux distro called Red Hat in 1994 – Bought Red Hat, merged in 1995 – Went public in 1999, huge first-day gains – Now on NASDAQ and S&P – 900m revenue
33. Red Hat, Inc. • Uses GPL Licensing, yet making money • Pivotal business decision – New 2001 VP says need new business model 33 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – New 2001 VP says need new business model – Replace RHL with robust enterprise offering – “We don’t need the GPL anymore. It’s based on the belief that open source software is weak and needs to be protected.” – Keep principles of free software, but charge to guarantee functionality of final product
34. Red Hat, Inc. • How to make money? – Red Hat Subscription • Professional QA and support 34 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Professional QA and support • Leverage other open source initiatives • No license, upgrade, maintenance, support fees • Open code and APIs, no vendor lock-in • Patent Promise – Investing in business software • World IT market 3tr, consumer 250b
35. Oracle • Tools and platform company – Must be highly compatible • “Commitment to open source” 35 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • “Commitment to open source” – “commited to offering choice, flexibility, and lowering costs” – Open standards
36. Oracle • But what kind of open source? – Sued Google over Java patents – “What really matters is how many billions we 36 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – “What really matters is how many billions we make this year.” – “If an open source product is good enough, we’ll simply take it.” – Include OSS in product, charge for support – Exploit patents
37. Oracle • Oracle Linux – Copy of RHEL without Red Hat trademarks – Oracle Unbreakable Linux Support 37 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Oracle Unbreakable Linux Support • Charge for Red Hat-certified support – Choose RHEL or Oracle-optimized kernel – Deployed on more than 42,000 internal Oracle servers
38. Nginx • Written for Rambler in 2004 – Designed to handle >500m request/day – Async event-driven, not threaded like Apache 38 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Async event-driven, not threaded like Apache • Second most popular web server • BSD-like license • Now owned by Nginx Inc. – Offers support - pricy
39. Sencha • HTML5 development libraries and tools • Paid licensing, free for OSS projects 39 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com
40. Comments? 40 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com
41. OSS Business Models 1. Proprietary components 2. Sell support services 41 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com 3. Value added distribution 4. Dual licensing 5. Alternate revenue stream 6. Mutualization model
42. 1. Proprietary Components • Citrix XenSource, VmWare – Free virtualization – Pay for management software 42 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Pay for management software • Mule ESB – SOA/Enterprise bus software – Pay for Mule iON management software • Growth comes with adoption
43. 2. Sell Support • Oracle, Nginx • Open source – Intend to set standards 43 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Intend to set standards – Encourage developers to develop against • Charge for support and maintenance • Growth levers – Service maximum number of users – Increase market size with wide array of solutions
44. 3. Value Added Distribution • Red Hat • Software not developed by self 44 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Pay for services and knowledge • Value to client – Saving time – Transfer risks of using open source – Updates pushed to you
45. 4. Dual Licensing • MySQL, KendoUI, Sencha – GPL or OSS license available – Pay license for OEM/ISV 45 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Pay license for OEM/ISV • SugarCRM – AGPLv3 for Community Edition, almost like Pro – MPL for Sugar Pro in cloud • Why go Pro? – Pro has more features – Pro is more compatible and bugfree
46. 5. Alternate Revenue Stream • Advertising – Affiliate or partner (Mozilla) – Mobile apps or web apps • Revenue from related products 46 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Revenue from related products – Oracle products rely on Apache • Revenue from separate markets – OSS tools for developers, academics – Revenue from businesses • Selling hardware – Vyatta (routers), Sun/IBM (servers)
47. 6. Mutualization Model • Open source simple version • Develop add-ons on demand 47 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Create community – Members pool resources to lower cost • Key factors – Potentially complex product – Niche solution, pre-empt competition
48. OSS Business Model Questions? 48 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com
49. Common Factors • Established market – Be the cheaper option – Solution/function already understood • Community of developers 49 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Community of developers – Interact with community, provide resources – Encourage community feedback and projects • Stable infrastructure – Support after sale – Simple, complete product • Alleviate managers’ fears
50. OSS Product Considerations • Product theft – SugarCRM’s advertisement clause • Necessary creation of after sales service 50 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Necessary creation of after sales service – Maintain and improve product • Misunderstanding or can’t trust – People are used to proprietary software
51. Sinking Costs into OSS • Exerting influence on standards – Many people flock to free • Invest in supporting infrastructure 51 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com • Invest in supporting infrastructure – Oracle contributes to Apache/Eclipse • Marketing – Gain adoption by OSS version as trial
52. Summary • Open source projects – Require communication, leaders, dev force – Are often the cheaper alternative 52 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Are often the cheaper alternative • On licenses – GPL is for the cult – BSD is smart by leaving it to market • Various business models – Various options, which is best for you?
53. Questions & Discussion 53 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com
54. 54 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com
55. Extra Info Slides Below 55 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com
56. Origins of OSS • Unix – MIT, AT&T Bell Labs, GE developed Multics in 1960s – Bell Labs employees rewrote for themselves in 1969 56 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Bell Labs employees rewrote for themselves in 1969 • BSD – ARPA-funded research to improve Unix by Computer Systems Research Group in 1977 – AT&T license price grew ($100k - $200k) – CSRG re-wrote most, released in 1982 – BSD became basis for many open-source OS
57. Origins of OSS • GPL • Emacs editor – Stallman first created in 1976, which spawned branches 57 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Stallman first created in 1976, which spawned branches – EINE, ZWEI, ZMACS, Multics Emacs, Gosling Emacs – Gosling sold to Unipress in 1983 – Gosling gave permission to Stallman’s friend to redistribute his version of Gosling Emacs – Stallman got copy, rewrote most of it, redistributed – Unipress challenged friend’s right to redistribute – Stallman rewrote rest of it, became GNU Emacs
58. Two Original OSS Licenses BSD and GPL • GPL – The license of the tinkerers – Belongs to community 58 ©2012 Sundog | www.sundoginteractive.com – Belongs to community – Nobody can sell your work – Businesses don’t like GPL software • Can’t build assets • Can’t capitalize on “business secrets”