Open Source File

 Defining Terms
› Software as Intellectual Property
› Proprietary Software
› Open Source Software
› Freeware
 Advantages and Disadvantages
 Sharing Software within the
Commonwealth
 Best Value Procurement

 Software as Intellectual Property
 Proprietary Software
 Open Source Software
 Freeware

 Software is valuable intellectual property
 A software license is the contract
between the software owner and the
licensee defining terms of use of software
 Software owners also have enumerated
rights under the law to control the use
and distribution of their property (with
few exceptions)
 The Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) and contract law typically
protect software owners’ rights

 Fairly standard terms
 Source code availability
› Source code not provided - trying to figure
out inner workings of software through
reverse engineering or decompiling of
operating mode is forbidden; OR
› Source code provided - may or may not
include permission to create modifications
and enhancements

 Restrictions on dissemination. Licensee
and users strictly defined. Licensee has
no right to share with those not defined
as licensee users in license;
 Licensor indemnifies licensees against
third party infringement claims;
 Often, have to sign a new license each
time new licensee obtains the code.

 Warranties provided:
› Defects in media and existence of viruses,
Trojan Horses, backdoors, etc;
› Can negotiate for warranties re: meet
specifications in product documentation
 Maintenance and support terms
included (although may be in separate
document).

 Non-proprietary software which may or
may not be used commercially;
 Typically licensed under an Open Source
license (not given away)
› License terms differ from proprietary software
license terms
 Source code is generally made available
› Legal restriction on reverse engineering
(under the DMCA) do not apply.

 Original software owner or developer
chooses to limit the rights that he asserts
over licensees
 Licensees, subject to license terms, can:
› make and distribute copies of software;
› build upon software to create modifications
or other works.

 Source code to original product always
provided;
 Licensee can modify or enhance source code
(create “derivative works”) or include source
code with other license types (create “larger
works”);
 Licensee may be required to share
modifications with the world (in source and/or
binary form), but not necessarily;
 Licensee may be prohibited from charging
royalties for derivative and larger works, but not
necessarily.

 Generally, software provided “AS-IS” with
no warranties, warranties excluded;
 No indemnification;
 No maintenance or support.

 No standard open source license, but
GPL most widely used (roughly 85% of
open source software);
 Terms include:
› User freedom to distribute and/or modify;
› Requirement that original and modified source code
be always made available to the world under the
terms of the original license;
› Must retain copyright notices and warranty
disclaimers;
› Does not include grant of patent licenses;
› Extremely viral license.

 Developed by Netscape for the Mozilla
browser
 Terms include:
 Very similar to the GPL but,
 Can charge royalties for modified versions;
 Can include source code within larger works licensed
under different license types, thus license does not
‘infect’ all downstream projects;
 Must retain copyright notices and warranty disclaimers;
 May provide additional warranties to downstream users
but may have to indemnify original developer for any
claims arising as a result;
 Includes grant patent licenses;
 Less viral than the GPL.

 Terms include:
› No requirement for source code availability
in downstream distribution;
› The program can be distributed in
executable form thus allowing downstream
users to develop, sell, and install customized
software packages without having to make
all customizations available to the world;
› Must retain all copyright notices and
warranty disclaimers;
› Includes grant of patent licenses.

 Terms include:
› Viral license, source code is always made
available to the world;
› Must retain copyright notices and warranty
disclaimers;
› Requires indemnification for attorney’s fees
incurred as a result of potential claims or
litigation.

 Governs the Apache web-server
software.
 Terms include:
› No requirement for source code to be made
available to the world in downstream
distribution;
› Must retain all copyright notices and
warranty disclaimers;
› Not a viral license.

 Terms will always include preservation of
copyright notices and warranty disclaimers;
 Some licenses will be extremely viral: thus
prohibiting any other type of downstream
licensing apart from under the terms of the
original license;
 Some with permit inclusion of code within
proprietized programs;
 In some instances, provision of additional
warranties and support will trigger
indemnification provisions to the original
developer.

 Indemnification;
 Maintenance and support;
 Licensee doesn’t have to have open
source savvy staff;
 Licensees’ rights if:
› media is defective;
› software contains viruses, backdoors, etc.;
› product fails to meet written
technical/business specifications.

 COST!
› License fee
› Product bundling—example: Microsoft office.
 Licensee cannot modify or enhance the
code;
 Often not built to open standards, leading
to interoperability problems;
 Shut off from continuing development and
information sharing in open source
community;
 Some proprietary code is not as good as its
open source counterparts.

 PRICE: Generally no or low license fees;
 Availability of source code coupled with
permission to make modifications;
 Access open source development
community, which may be very active
with respect to code used. Continuing
improvement; outstanding
development;
 More likely to be built to open standards,
so interoperable with other open
standards systems.

 No indemnification; if a third party claims
that licensee is using code that the third
party developed, the licensee has no one
to pay his legal fees and damage award
(SCO v. IBM);
 No maintenance and support (unless
purchased separately);
 No warranties regarding media, viruses, and
performance;
 Staff must be open source savvy;
 License terms are NOT standard: thus
important to pay close attention to terms.

Made By :-
ABHISHEK
GOEL
9 ‘C’
th

Made by:- ABHISHEK
GOEL

Submitted to:- Ms. Himani

Open Source File

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