Whether free or not, resources normally come with a license to ensure fair use.
Rather than establishing verbal agreements, I can distribute my work with a license that sets the guidelines for use. The things that are copyrighted are sometimes referred to as “intellectual property.”
Free and open-source software (FOSS).
in 1998, the free software foundation was re-branded it to “open source initiative” to emphasize the business potential of sharing and collaborating on software source code.
The benefits of using FOSS can include:
Free software does not mean noncommercial.
You may have:
But regardless of how you got your copies, you always have the freedom to copy and change the software, even to sell copies
See Free philosophy / definition
If people have to pay when they get a copy of a program, or if they have to notify anyone in particular, then the program is not free. (Ref)
If a license does not permit users to make copies and sell them, it is a nonfree license.
In “free software”, this is about freedom, not price. Think of “free speech”, not “free beer”. The program is free regardless of the price, because users have freedom in using it.
In the long run, how many people pay for free software is determined mainly by how much free software can do, and how easy it is to use.
Share-alike is a copyright licensing term, originally used by the Creative Commons project, to describe works or licences that require copies or adaptations of the work to be released under the same or similar licence as the original
Free content and software licences without the share-alike requirement are described as permissive licences.
Copyleft (a play on the word copyright) is also known as:
Copyleft licenses are free (content or software) licenses with a share-alike condition.
It is the practice of offering people the right to freely distribute copies and modified versions of a work with the stipulation that the same rights be preserved in derivative works down the line.
Example of Licenses that are copyleft:
wiki/Derivative: The only value you can offer is premium support and automatic updates.
Part of this license outlines requirements for derivative works, such as plugins or themes.
Derivatives of WordPress code inherit the GPL license.
If I write a module or theme, do I have to license it under the GPL?
Yes.
The LGPL license (GNU Lesser General Public License):
A Permissive software license is also known under the term:
Well-known examples of permissive free software licenses include:
As of 2015, the most popular FOSS license is the permissive MIT license.[3][4]
The MIT license 1) is perhaps the most open of all. It effectively puts the work in the public domain. It explicitly gives permission, “without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sub license, and/or sell copies of the Software.” The only condition is that the full copyright notice (which declares no warranty or liability) be included. Work released under the MIT license can be used for anything, including commercial and proprietary software.
The BSL is alternative between fully open and fully proprietary
The BSL:
Example for a Wiki software
Additional Use Grant: You may make use of the Licensed Work, provided that
you may not use the Licensed Work for a Document
Service.
A “Document Service” is a commercial offering that
allows third parties (other than your employees and
contractors) to access the functionality of the
Licensed Work by creating teams and documents
controlled by such third parties.
Change Date: 2023-12-13
Change License: Apache License, Version 2.0