Software License

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Software licenses can generally be fit into the following categories: proprietary licenses and free and open source licenses, which include free software licenses and other open source licenses. The features that distinguishes them are significant in terms of the effect they have on the end-user's rights.

A free open source license makes software free for inspection of its code, modification, and distribution. Some free licenses, like the GNU General Public License, allow the product and/or derivative to be commercially sold.

Proprietary software

The hallmark of proprietary software licenses is that the software publisher grants the use of one or more copies of software under the end-user license agreement (EULA), but ownership of those copies remains with the software publisher (hence use of the term "proprietary"). This feature of proprietary software licenses means that certain rights regarding the software are reserved by the software publisher. Therefore, it is typical of EULAs to include terms which define the uses of the software, such the number of installations allowed or the terms of distribution.

Free and open source software

A primary consequence of the free software form of licensing is that acceptance of the license is essentially optional — the end-user may use the software without accepting the license. However, if the end-user wishes to exercise any of the additional rights granted by a free software license (such as the right to redistribute the software), then the end-user must accept, and be bound by, the software license.

Open source licenses generally fall under two categories: Those that aim to preserve the openness of the software itself (copyleft licenses), and those that aim to give freedoms to the users of that software (permissive licenses).

There are a number of "Open" philosophies which are similar and may overlap, be supersets, or subsets. Read below to learn more about free and open data licensing.

Updated: May 10, 2011