commercial

software: when to pay, when to use free?

What are your criteria when evaluating free vs pay software? Which is your "default" choice? update: Is the answer different for application and development software? ...

License guidelines for using log4net in a commercial application

I am looking to provide some logging support for a closed source commercial application. I have been using log4net for non-distributed projects and am very happy with it. I have googled a bit and actually read (or at least attempted to) the apache log4net license. But lacking a knack for legal-speak I just don't quite get what the rul...

Delphi Active Commercial Components

Similar to the Delphi FOSS component question, a commercial component directory will also be a valuable searchable resource. I invite you to contribute your expierience with your favourite commercial components and also share with us your experiences with commercial components that doesn't make the grade as well. Then there is the questi...

Making money while programming Linux and/or open source for small business?

During university, I wanted to start a software business. I didn't know what at the time, but I knew it would have to be Windows and closed source in order to make enough money to support a career. Was I wrong? What could I have been told that would have changed my mind? I'm looking for arguments about why I could have programmed Linu...

How do you build a commercial OpenSocial app with protected source?

I'm interested in any solutions for building a commercial OpenSocial app that has protected source. Links to detailed solutions or hacks is perfectly acceptable. Obviously being XML and JavaScript, there is a high likelihood this just isn't possible, but I'm curious if anyone has explored this angle. ...

Can I use library distributed under Creative Commons license in commercial app?

Some guys here mentioned that they are using the HTML Agility Pack library. It is distributed under Creative Commons (Attribution-ShareAlike) license. Can I use it in the commercial closed-source application? Thanks. ...

What is the pricing model for cygwin in commerical applications?

Also, has anyone ever used it for a successful commercial application? Red hat is pretty vague on their website.. and have not answered my emails yet. ...

What Books or Websites Should I Use for Creating Commerical Web Applications?

I've got some ideas for web applications that I would like to sell to businesses, NGOs, and non-profits. I can do the application development so far as creating the look and feel, business logic, etc. but I am looking for books or websites that talk about packaging up web applications for commercial sale. I'm thinking I need things lik...

What commercial games have been written with pyGame?

I'm curious to know what commercial games, if any, have been written with pyGame. The scale doesn't matter much, it doesn't have to be a massive success, but it should be significant that more than 2 people have ever heard of it. I ask this because nearly everything I saw on the pyGame website seemed fairly underwhelming. I understand...

What are the advantages of Commercial Software vs. Open Source Software?

I know many advantages of Open Source Software. But what are the advantages of Commercial software from customer view? When should I use/buy a Commercial Software instead of a Open Source Software? ...

Which programming tools do you pay for?

With so many open source (or simply freely available) alternatives for nearly every programming tool category, which software do you (or your boss) pay for and why? Is the decision based on saving development time, better functionality, documentation or simply corporate policy? ...

WPF Layer Control

I'm in need of a WPF layer control that does the following 1) Have multiple layers of content on top of each other. 2) Ability to turn layers on/off at design and runtime, ie we need a UI maybe something like a tabbed control 3) Move layers up/down the stack 4) Change opacity for layers Now I know all of the above is possible in Xam...

Boilerplate licensing for non-FOSS libraries

I have found this list of FOSS licenses. Is there anything similar for non-free/non-open source boilerplate? Barring that, does anyone known of a commercial software library distributed with a license (that I can "borrow") that fits these requirements: I retain all rights to software (i.e., it is not freeware or open source). The dll ...

SQLExpress commercial usage

Can I use SQL Express for commercial use? or it should be only used for personal development and learning purposes? What are the conditions if I can use it for commercial purpose? ...

Can I use resources licenced under the Apache Public License in my commercial app?

Hello, Under the terms of the Apache Public License, can I use some (graphic) resources in my commercial app? More specifically, in my (proprietary) Android app, I want to use some graphics from Android. Since Android is licensed under the Apache Public License, I downloaded the source and took the resources I wanted. But I was wondering...

Paying open source project members for bug fixes and features

I have a problem to solve that I think will take 4 days, but if I had a feature request sorted and a snapshot release then I reckon I could have it done in one. Superficially this creates a budget of 3 x my daily rate to get it the feature-request actioned. So my questions are, have you ever paid an O/S project member to fix something f...

Licensing Commercial Software (Is there any quick and dirty solution out there?)

I've got an application and I share it with some companies however this application is not free nor for sale. It's just some private project which I don't want to share with world but only some companies that I'm working for. But simply I don't want them to: Copy Steal Share my application or any part of it. What kind of a license ...

Distributing a GPL utility program with commercial software

My company is considering distributing a sql profiler with our commercial software to make support and diagnostics easier. A few questions I have: Do we have to ship the source code with our setup? Or is hosting it on our website or a link to the project website enough? Can we create a shortcut to the GPL tool or is that called derived...

using an icon under "GPL" or "LGPL" licence for commercial web design work?

Hi friends. :) Can we use an icon under "GPL" or "LGPL" licence for commercial work? I don't want to sell icon. I just want to use icon for my web design work. but I do this web design work for my client, so I take money for the web design Thanks a lot... ...

Commercial software using open source projects?

Can any open source library be used in a commercial software or any specific licensed open source library? The open source library is used in the software and gets bundled in the package. No changes done in the open source code. ...