“Business friendly” Open Source
“Business friendly” Open Source
February 2, 2007: It’s taken some time for Open Source to be accepted by businesses but Open Source developers are gaining momentum in the enterprise market by packaging services such as warranty, help-desk support and uptime guarantees demanded by business.
One such company is Australian Open Source software developer, Squiz, which has released a “business friendly” paid-for version of the latest release of MySource Matrix Content Management System. Open Source enthusiasts need not worry - Squiz is maintaining its free open source license which doesn’t include support and development.
Otherwise identical, the paid-for Squiz Supported Version (SSV) license offers pre-packaged support services and add-on modules not included in the free version. Squiz does make a few exceptions though with existing government, education and not-for-profit clients offered the SSV free.
The new version has been released under the GPL license, which Squiz argues is the “purest” licensing regime which is accepted by a majority of the Open Source community, including longtime Squiz supporter and GPL advocate Open Source Industry Australia.
Arguing for the dual model approach, Steve Barker, Director and co-founder of Squiz says, "This new approach to licensing is great news for both the MySource Matrix development community and our customers. The GPL gives developers all the freedom they need to take and extend the product, whilst Squiz’s new SSV license gives organisations the choice to acquire a warranted version of the product - which is something that the GPL excludes. Looking ahead, instead of licensing fees, we will continue to sell support services which include warranty, help-desk support and uptime-guarantees to organisations that need this level of certainty, whilst other MySource Matrix users can choose to develop and support the product themselves if that is what they prefer.”
Others using this model include Sun’s Star Office, which Barker says has succeeded in making their open source products “business friendly”.
"By adopting this new dual-licence regime, Squiz intends to address the Achilles heal of Open Source software products in the commercial world,” says John-Paul Syriatowicz, Managing Director and co-founder of Squiz. “Our clients can now choose to take advantage of the cost savings associated with an open source product, whilst at the same time enjoying the support.
assurances offered by traditional proprietary software.”