CentOS - Oct 2009 - trying to understand OSS, GPL, BSD & other licensing model for software distribution.

Hi all,

We are busy developing some software (some is web based, others not)
and I am having a bit of hard time understanding (or rather, choosing)
a license model to work with, We will offer some free software (PHP
based scripts, and even Windows based applications) and for this I'm
sure the GPL, or even LGPL (for the network side?) will work fine.

But, we also need to suppose these scripts, and will be charging for
support (other for installations, customization, or even custom
derivations, etc), but at the same time we need to distribute some
commercial software to cover developer's salaries, rents, marketing,
business growth, etc.

Now, my question(s) is as follows:

Can I sell one script as GPL, but another as AGPL, or even BSD under
the same company name? And if these 2 are tied together (i.e. being
able to be used together, although seperate programs / script - for
example Apache + PHP), how would I license them?

We are writing a series of PHP + MySQL based scripts which can be used
on the internet, either stand-alone, or in conjunction with other
scripts (API driven), and I want to offer a free, limited edition, as
well as commercial edition with more features. We're also writing some
software that makes use of MySQL / sqlite / postgresql, and even
MSSQL, so I need to take their licenses into consideration.

What would be the best license for this? I know it's broad, but
there's just too much to readup on the different licences and I've
read a lot already, not knowing where to go. I have a feeling that I
may need to go the dual / multi-license route, but even then I don't
know which licences to use.

The open source projects wouls also be open for other people to add
their own modifications, but I would also like to allow others to
write commercial addon's as well.

Any pointers, and even past-experiences?

-- 
Kind Regards
Rudi Ahlers
CEO, SoftDux Hosting
Web: http://www.SoftDux.com
Office: 087 805 9573
Cell: 082 554 7532

Am 07.10.2009 um 00:18 schrieb Rudi Ahlers:
> Hi all,
>
> We are busy developing some software (some is web based, others not)


Licenses are only about the source-access and how contribution/ 
deviations are licensed.

You can charge any amount you want for your GPL'ed stuff - but the  
source must be available for reasonable cost.

So, if one of your licensees redistributes a copy for free, that's  
perfectly legal (for GPL).

Charging for PHP-stuff has always been very difficult.
Some use IONCUBE encoder etc.

I don't know if charging for support actually makes a good business- 
model.
You need a lot of contracts for that.

BSD-licenses carry a lot less burden - but of course you can't just  
take a GPL'ed piece of code and re-distribute it with a BSD-licence.
If your free product is GPL'ed and your commercial product is a  
derivative of that, it will also be licensed (well, need to be  
licensed) as GPL - if you give it away to somebody. If you keep it  
inhouse, nobody cares and nobody has a right to see the derivated  
source, just because it exists).

You should really enlist the help of a law-professional in this field  
- the licensing-minefield has gotten more and more difficult to  
navigate in recent years.
This is especially relevant in cases where you want to have "dual- 
licensed" stuff (as you mentioned).



Rainer

Hi all,

We are busy developing some software (some is web based, others not)
and I am having a bit of hard time understanding (or rather, choosing)
a license model to work with, We will offer some free software (PHP
based scripts, and even Windows based applications) and for this I'm
sure the GPL, or even LGPL (for the network side?) will work fine.

But, we also need to suppose these scripts, and will be charging for
support (other for installations, customization, or even custom
derivations, etc), but at the same time we need to distribute some
commercial software to cover developer's salaries, rents, marketing,
business growth, etc.

Now, my question(s) is as follows:

Can I sell one script as GPL, but another as AGPL, or even BSD under
the same company name? And if these 2 are tied together (i.e. being
able to be used together, although seperate programs / script - for
example Apache + PHP), how would I license them?

We are writing a series of PHP + MySQL based scripts which can be used
on the internet, either stand-alone, or in conjunction with other
scripts (API driven), and I want to offer a free, limited edition, as
well as commercial edition with more features. We're also writing some
software that makes use of MySQL / sqlite / postgresql, and even
MSSQL, so I need to take their licenses into consideration.

What would be the best license for this? I know it's broad, but
there's just too much to readup on the different licences and I've
read a lot already, not knowing where to go. I have a feeling that I
may need to go the dual / multi-license route, but even then I don't
know which licences to use.

The open source projects wouls also be open for other people to add
their own modifications, but I would also like to allow others to
write commercial addon's as well.

Any pointers, and even past-experiences?

-- 
Kind Regards
Rudi Ahlers
CEO, SoftDux Hosting
Web: http://www.SoftDux.com
Office: 087 805 9573
Cell: 082 554 7532