The free open-source software movement has been beneficial to most of the software development community. We have tons of libraries and applications at our fingertips free of cost. But where do you draw the line? Or do you? If Developer A creates Application A, yet you know you could create a similar application and distribute it as ope...
I'd like to use getopt in my C++ program, but the powers-that-be at my place don't want to use GPL or LGPL code (they're not that fond of Boost). Since getopt is licensed under the GPL (or is it the LGPL?), I can't use it. Does anyone know of any alternatives? ...
Hello guys, I've several people using the same proprietary software (at the same time, same installation), do I need an end-user license for each one or can I buy a multiple license (which, of course, would be cheaper) ? ...
In reference to this question and that Qt is Qt GNU LGPL v. 2.1 , would it be correct to say/simplify: Yes you can, but if you "enhance" the the Qt API you must publish it also? ...
Imagine this scenario: I develop an open source software (a kind of chatting server). And I don't mind if somebody decides to install this server and offer a paid service based on it. Does GPL license allow this? Or should I publish the software under MIT or smth like this? ...
There are many questions posted with great answers, but nothing I found met my requirements. Hope you guys can help. I will be building a niche social site platform based on Ruby on Rails and will integrate trusted popular gems to save time. The final product will be launched where users can sign-in to use the basic services for free, a...
I have a small VC++ project that I would like to market. Can anyone point me in the right direction in terms of writing a "serial key" system. I have no idea how these things are implemented. ...
I recently have a client comes asking me as a C#/.NET dev for reasons about why I have not picked any of the "wave of the future" frameworks out there like Rails/Django and instead choose "proprietary software" from M$ to build his website. Frankly, I love all the open source stuff. But seeing non-technical people bugging me for reasons...
Hello. I've read existing questions about this topic on here already, but none of them seem to address my question so far. Here is the situation: We are developing a closed-source/proprietary software for a few customers. Our software is written in C++ and uses Qt 4.6, thus it makes use of the LGPL licensed version of Qt. The software...
In my free time, I develop (alone, sigh) a project, in particoular an application library. I've released it using GPL v3. At this time, this project has come very useful for a job. I'd like to release my OSS library toghether with the application using the same GPL v3 licence, with the exception that it can be linked for the specific ap...
Proprietary software is about as good as open-source software. There are so many problems with proprietary technologies, however, that I'm beginning to think it's best to avoid them: The software will only be maintained as long as the company exists (and profits). The level of security of the application is as unknowable as the source ...