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by nickpsecurity 3866 days ago
"Shared source"

It's a start.

"if paid software actually has the "key benefits" of Open Source, it is probably because it is Open Source."

You got me thinking on it enough to consult the opensource.org requirements. :) Two jumped out at me immediately:

" Free Redistribution"

"License Must Not Be Specific to a Product"

Many forms of paid software with open-source benefits don't allow this or not for all parties. A license might have to be paid on a per-user, per-product, or per-project basis. Other benefits of OSS can remain. So, it's not traditional definition of OSS but still respects freedoms of paying users to various degrees.
1 comments
dragonwriter 3866 days ago
> Many forms of paid software with open-source benefits don't allow this or not for all parties.

I think most people who believe that open source has benefits would disagree that there is software that provides "open-source benefits" without providing this. What specific examples can you point to of these "many forms" of paid software, and what "open-source benefits" do they provide without these?

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nickpsecurity 3866 days ago
I'm talking about licenses/models rather than specific products which come and go in this space outside dual-licensing or proprietary with source as in embedded scene.

To get more specific, you can read the source, you can modify it to suit your needs, you can submit modifications for redistribution by owner, you can fix problems, port to new hardware, often include it in your proprietary software, optional component of OSS software, and optionally fork it as GPL. (optional used to denote some paid, source-shared don't do this) That's really close to OSS software while still being proprietary to support active development and maintenance by full-time people. The dollar amount w/ associated benefits can be as large or small as one likes, even fixed. Provisions can be made for it to go BSD etc if abandoned or unsupported by original owner.

I'm just curious how far a proprietary model can go into increased OSS-style benefits and reduced proprietary-style risks. I'm sure it's way closer than people think with the dual-licensed stuff being most obvious indicators that hybrid models w/ licensing revenue are achievable.

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