Freeware licenses

The license is a text document designed to protect the intellectual property of the software developer and to limit any claims against them that may arise from its use. A software license also provides legally binding definitions for the distribution and use of the software. Most software falls under one of two categories that have distinct differences in how they are viewed under copyright law:. FOSS software licenses — give rights to the customer that include modification and reuse of the software code, providing the actual source code with the software product s.

This open-source type of licensing affords the user authority to modify the software functions and freedom to inspect the software code. Proprietary software licenses — provide no such authority for code modification or reuse and normally provide software with operational code only, and no source code. In both cases, the software license will most often specify limitations of liability from use of the software product, any mutual responsibilities such as support, and any warranties or disclaimer of warranty.

Open source and proprietary software licensing may also specify additional restrictions and terms:. New users of a software will normally enter into an end-user license agreement EULA that constitutes a legal definition of the relationship between the licensor provider and licensee user or business.

The EULA is a contract that establishes the rights of the purchaser for installing and using the software. Every EULA contains a clause that stipulates when its conditions are activated by an end user. The developer retains ownership, but the re-branding company is permitted to resell the software product. There are five main software license categories or types used to cover different kinds of software and various business arrangements.

These encompass a wide spectrum of licensing scenarios, from free software public domain to paid commercial software proprietary. When software is defined as being in the public domain, anyone is free to use and modify the software without restrictions. For many reasons, businesses must exercise caution when adopting public domain software in projects or other important applications:.

Under an LGPL license, developers have rights to link to open source libraries within their own software. Resulting code can be licensed under any other type of license — even proprietary — when projects are compiled or linked to include an LGPL-licensed library. The caveat is that if any part of the library is copied into the code or modified, the terms of the original LGPL license will apply to the developed code that used the library.

This type of license is one of the most common and popular among open-source software licenses. Variants in permissive licenses include differences in requirements for preserving license notices and copyrights for the software, as well as how the software may be used commercial or private , trademark requirements, and other stipulations.

Under the terms of a copyleft license, the licensed code may be modified or distributed as part of a software project if the new code is distributed under the same software license. Since the original software included with the new project allowed modifications and distribution, this may not be the best license for software developers because the resulting code must also carry the copyleft license type — including the availability of the source code.

If none of this information has answered your question, don't despair -- just write us and we'll be happy to answer it. For developers of proprietary software, we also offer paid support. All you have to do is send an email to licensing fsf. The FSF is a charity with a worldwide mission to advance software freedom — learn about our history and work.

Send your feedback on our translations and new translations of pages to campaigns fsf. Learn more about free software licenses and related issues. If you're about to publish a new program, just follow this step-by-step guide.

Our list of licenses offers basic information about many common software licenses, such as whether or not it's a free software license, and if it's GPL-compatible. It also includes licenses for related materials such as documentation and general data.

The software will only be used on a single computer, and other users will not be able to access or run the software while connected to your computer. Types of individual licenses are: Perpetual license: allows the customer to install and use the software indefinitely.

This software is usually labeled that it is an academic product and for use only by academic or educational institutions. The NFR software is not licensed for normal commercial distribution. Concurrent Use: This license type requires that you purchase licenses for the maximum number of people who will be running the software simultaneously.

The licensee usually has to satisfy a minimum purchase requirement and obtains reduced prices in exchange. When purchasing the licenses, the licensee usually receives one copy of the media and documentation with the option of purchasing more. Typically, these licenses are individually negotiated with the publisher and vary widely in their provisions. The number of devices that can legally access that server simultaneously is limited in Per Server licensing to the number of CALs purchased for that particular server.

This license is typically used in conjunction with a network license.