Software freedom is essential to enabling community development of open source software. Skip to main content. Home Contact Donate Login. Search form. Learn more. GPL - Is it required to post source code to the Public - when is a software released? Ask Question. Asked 2 years, 10 months ago. Active 1 year, 6 months ago. Viewed 2k times. What if only logged in users can use the CMS?
Improve this question. Community Bot 1. The GPLv3 has clarified matters a bit by introducing the term conveying instead of releasing or publishing. The license allows conveying as something that enables others to make or receive a copy of the software.
Mere interaction with a program is not conveying. Also note that it does not state when or how to make the modified source code available. IMHO, in many cases it happens upon request of a user only. This may go unnoticed for years. I once heard somewhere that it is sufficient to print the code on paper to fullfill the requirement to provide the code. Is that the case? For example, you might offer technical support, software customization, and trainings as package options.
The SaaS version of WordPress can be found at wordpress. If you choose this service, then WordPress hosts your application for you. Sharetribe, a marketplace builder, is another great example of an OpenSaaS product. It comes in two versions: a self-hosted free version which can be found on GitHub, and a cloud-based hosted version at sharetribe.
But while the SaaS version receives great support and additional offerings like custom domain and removal of Sharetribe branding, this version of Sharetribe is less customizable, only allowing you to personalize marketplace filters and change colors, images, and block position in the user interface.
With the open source version of Sharetribe, on the other hand, the customer has to deploy Sharetribe on their own server and run updates and backups themselves.
OpenSaaS is an exciting new trend that combines the best of both worlds, allowing people to build web experiences more easily than ever.
Such as technical support, certifications, and trainings. In fact, most professional open source companies — including Red Hat, JBoss, and MySQl — have built their entire business by providing free solutions. They generate profits only from additional services. The most common way to get revenue from OSS is to provide paid support.
Red Hat sets the bar for this model, boasting substantial revenue. In , the company — widely known for its enterprise operating system, Red Hat Enterprise Linux — announced a profit of 2.
Red Hat does admirably by selling yearly subscriptions for user and technical support. Customers can choose a subscription plan based on number of requests, severity of requests, support channels and hours of coverage. MySQL, the leading open source database, derives revenue from selling support subscriptions for their product.
Paid support is an effective tool for making profit from open source for a few reasons. First, enterprise owners can save money on their payroll. Instead of hiring in-house specialists, enterprises can have access to certified support specialists on a less expensive basis. Second, enterprises can have peace of mind knowing that they can call in the pros whenever a problem arises.
Dual licensing can be implemented in a few ways. In the first scenario, a company releases identical products under a commercial license and under a free license like GPL.
In the second scenario, the company releases different versions under different licenses. The most well-known example of successful dual licensing is MySQL. Some companies make money with open source in this way: they distribute their software for free, but charge money for additional features, functionalities, or updates.
We can't call such approach selling open source software. As we mentioned previously, customers feel most comfortable paying for only the services they utilize. Which is why, charging money for extra functionality is attractive for a number of reasons.
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