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by n_jd 2932 days ago
CC NC forbids using the material for commercial purposes [1]. On 'use', opensource.com defers to the four freedoms [2], which includes the freedom to use software for whatever you like. So by opensource.com, software licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 is not open source. Also they don't mention creative commons when discussing open source licenses [5] because it doesn't make sense for code.

I can see why you might think opensource.com says that open source "literally means the source is public" if you only read the first sentence in their defining article [3]. Fair enough, this is a common misunderstanding [4].

[1] - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

[2] - https://opensource.com/law/10/10/license-compliance-not-prob...

[3] - https://opensource.com/resources/what-open-source

[4] - https://www.forbes.com/sites/wenjiazhao/2012/07/06/beliefs-a...

[5] - https://opensource.com/law/13/1/which-open-source-software-l...