Open Source software is widely used for private and non-commercial applications. Since the early days of Linux , however, many commercial organizations have used open source frameworks, modules, and libraries inside their for-profit products and services.
While this may seem to fly in the face of the GNU and other Open Source License s that stipulate that no derived works shall be sold commercially, a number of legal and technical mechanisms have been used to insulate the commercial products from the open source stipulations. Four of the more common (but debatable) tactics for this legal prestidigitation are:
- Using a Dual-license Model , where a code base is published under a traditional open source license and a commercial license simultaneously. Vendors typically charge a perpetual license fee for additional closed-source features, "better" documentation, testing, and quality, as well as intellectual property indemnification to protect the purchaser from legal damages.
- Using functional encapsulation, where an open source framework or library is installed on a user's computer separately from the commercial product, and the commercial product uses the open source functionality in an "arm's length" way (under the argument that the commercial product was shipped without the open source library). Vendors typically charge a perpetual license fee for the functionality that they provide under closed source, as they usually don't provide anything directly for the open source elements.
- Using a Software As A Service model, under the argument that the vendor is charging for the service, not the software itself (because the software is never shipped to customers or installed on their computers). Vendors typically charge a monthly subscription fee for use of their hosted applications.
- Not charging for the software, but only for the support, training, and consulting services helping users of the open source software. Vendors typically charge an annual fee for support, per-student fees for training, and per-project fees for consulting engagements.
The purpose of the list below is to provide information to users of products that incorporate or depend upon open source projects. As this may involve hundreds of companies, editing and expanding this list is a community effort.
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db4o (1,4) |
db4o |
ODBMS |
6.0 |
? |
db4o |
Funambol Server (1,4) |
Funambol |
Mobile email and PIM synchronization |
6.0 |
2001 |
Funambol (neé Sync4j) |
Poseidon for UML (1) |
Gentleware |
Software modeling tool |
6.0 |
1998 |
ArgoUML |
Hyperic HQ Enterprise (1) |
Hyperic |
Systems and Application Management software |
3.1 |
2004 |
Hyperic HQ |
Rational Application Developer (1,4) |
IBM |
Software Development Tools |
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2002? |
Eclipse |
Ingres Enterprise (1) |
Ingres |
RDBMS |
2006 Rel. 2 |
? |
Ingres |
Interface21 Framework (1) |
Interface21 |
Software Development Framework |
1.1 |
? |
Spring |
Business Intelligence Suite (1) |
JasperSoft |
Report writing system |
2.0 |
1996 |
Jasper |
Jitterbit Integration Server (1,4) |
Jitterbit |
Application integration |
1.2 |
2006? |
Jitterbit |
Mule(1,4) |
MuleSource |
Enterprise Service Bus and Integration Platform |
1.4 |
2003 |
Mule |
MySQL (1,4) |
MySQL |
RDBMS |
5.0 |
2000 |
MySQL |
Project.net (3,4) |
Project.net |
Project and Portfolio Management |
8.2.1 |
2000 |
projectnet |
SugarCRM (1,3) |
SugarCRM |
Sales force automation |
4.5 |
2003 |
SugarCRM |
Solaris (1,4) |
Sun |
Operating System |
10 |
1993 |
Open Solaris |
Star Office (4) |
Sun |
Personal office Suite |
8.0 |
2000 |
OpenOffice |
SunONE Studio (1,4) |
Sun |
Software Development Tools |
8.1 |
2000 |
NetBeans |
SunONE Enterprise System (1,4) |
Sun |
Application server, middleware, LDAP, etc. |
5 |
2003? |
Java |
Cruise Control Enterprise (4) |
ThoughtWorks |
Software Development Tools |
1.0 |
2007 |
CruiseControl |
Tripwire Enterprise (1) |
Tripwire |
System and network management |
7 |
2000? |
Tripwire |
Monetizing Open Source
Open Solutions Alliance
Open Source Crosses the Chasm
Open Source Licensing Best Practices
Open Source Sales Models
Post-Scarcity Software Economics... , ...concluded
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