Open core
Encyclopedia
Open core is a business model
where an open source
product is also made available commercially with non-open-source
additions. The name "open core" came into use in early 2010 but the business model had already existed for many years.
This requires the entity releasing the commercial version to have legal rights to do so, either from the use of a permissive free software licence
, such as the BSD licence
, or from the assignment of copyright from all software contributors to that commercial entity when using licenses such as the GPL
.
Canonical Ltd., maintainers of Ubuntu
have been accused of preparing to go open core, but have not done so. The accusations stemmed from Canonical's contributor agreement and their Project Harmony which aimed "to assist organisations which use contribution agreements by providing standardised variable templates with clear and concise explanations...."
Organisations which see open core as a danger include clauses in their assignment to prohibit open core licensing. One example is Free Software Foundation Europe
's (FSFE) Fiduciary Licence Agreement (used by KDE
.
). In this agreement, developers assign copyright to FSFE, but FSFE promises to use a free software licence
when distributing the software:
Other projects that use copyright assignments but which promise not to distribute the software as open core include the GNU Project
and OpenOffice.org
.
Business model
A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value...
where an open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
product is also made available commercially with non-open-source
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
additions. The name "open core" came into use in early 2010 but the business model had already existed for many years.
This requires the entity releasing the commercial version to have legal rights to do so, either from the use of a permissive free software licence
Permissive free software licence
A permissive free software licence is a class of free software licence with minimal requirements about how the software can be redistributed. This is in contrast to copyleft licences, which have reciprocity / share-alike requirements. Both sets of free software licences offer the same freedoms in...
, such as the BSD licence
BSD licenses
BSD licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses. The original license was used for the Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix-like operating system after which it is named....
, or from the assignment of copyright from all software contributors to that commercial entity when using licenses such as the GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
.
Examples
- MySQLMySQLMySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
(Support and licensing) - EucalyptusEucalyptus (computing)Eucalyptus is a software platform for the implementation of private cloud computing on computer clusters. There is an open-core enterprise edition and an open-source edition. Currently, it exports a user-facing interface that is compatible with the Amazon EC2 and S3 services but the platform is...
- StarOfficeStarOfficeStarOffice, known briefly as Oracle Open Office before its discontinuation in 2010, is a proprietary office suite. It was originally developed by StarDivision which was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1999...
- Rapid7Rapid7Rapid7 is a vulnerability management and penetration testing company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Its primary products are Nexpose and Metasploit...
, with their Metasploit Pro and Metasploit Express products which are based on the open source Metasploit core framework.
Canonical Ltd., maintainers of Ubuntu
Ubuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
have been accused of preparing to go open core, but have not done so. The accusations stemmed from Canonical's contributor agreement and their Project Harmony which aimed "to assist organisations which use contribution agreements by providing standardised variable templates with clear and concise explanations...."
Assignment with protections against open core
Some open core models use copyright assignment, but it should be pointed out that some open source projects require assignment of copyright for the sole purpose of defending that copyright, with the promise of retaining (only) open source licensing. For example, by prosecuting modification and binary release of GPLed software without release of the modified source code.Organisations which see open core as a danger include clauses in their assignment to prohibit open core licensing. One example is Free Software Foundation Europe
Free Software Foundation Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe was founded in 2001 as an official European sister organization of the U.S.-based Free Software Foundation to take care of all aspects of free software in Europe. FSF and FSFE are financially and legally separate entities.FSFE believes that access to and...
's (FSFE) Fiduciary Licence Agreement (used by KDE
KDE
KDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
.
). In this agreement, developers assign copyright to FSFE, but FSFE promises to use a free software licence
Free software licence
A free software licence is a software licence which grants recipients rights to modify and redistribute the software, which would otherwise be prohibited by copyright law. A free software licence grants, to the recipients, freedoms in the form of permissions to modify or distribute copyrighted work...
when distributing the software:
Other projects that use copyright assignments but which promise not to distribute the software as open core include the GNU Project
GNU Project
The GNU Project is a free software, mass collaboration project, announced on September 27, 1983, by Richard Stallman at MIT. It initiated GNU operating system development in January, 1984...
and OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software...
.
External links
- “Open Core” Is the New Shareware, by Bradley M. Kuhn
- Open Core Is Bad For You, by Simon PhippsSimon PhippsSimon Phipps may refer to:* Simon Phipps , conductor of the Swedish Chamber Choir* Simon Wilton Phipps, Bishop of Lincoln * Simon Phipps , British game designer...
- Open-Core: The Emperor’s New Clothes, by Brian Prentice