Posted 07/09/09 at 06:45:05 PM by David Murphy

Open-source licensing can be a tricky beast. But it's not just aspiring software developers that need be concerned about the nuances of OSS licensing (or freeware licensing, for that matter). If you offer up apps on a CD or a Web site for others to grab, you're just as impacted by the parameters of licensing as anyone else. If you're just a downloader who's thinking, "why me? I just install cool programs," it behooves you to understand the differences between legitimate and illegal distribution models for the programs you fancy. While you, yourself, cannot be held accountable for another's licensing violation when you go to download software, you shouldn't encourage their efforts either. Playing by the rules is the only way to keep the spirit of open source alive.

That doesn't make open-source licensing any less confusing, however. Click the jump to find out why!

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Posted 06/21/09 at 07:10:11 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Microsoft’s open-source Microsoft Public License (MS-PL) is increasingly becoming popular with open-source developers. The MS-PL is still in its infancy having been approved by the Open Source Initiative only a couple of years ago, but it has steadily risen to take the 10th spot among open-source licenses (ranked according to popularity). Around 1.02 percent of all open-source projects are currently licensed under the MS-PL. If it continues in the same vein, it will leave the Mozilla Public License (MPL) behind in the popularity stakes very soon. Microsoft's open-source code hosting service Codeplex is a key force driving the rising popularity of the Microsoft Public License.

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