@stacksofplates said in Benefits of using open source GPL software:
@Dashrender said in Benefits of using open source GPL software:
@scottalanmiller said in Benefits of using open source GPL software:
@Dashrender said in Benefits of using open source GPL software:
@scottalanmiller said in Benefits of using open source GPL software:
@stacksofplates said in Benefits of using open source GPL software:
@Dashrender said in Benefits of using open source GPL software:
@scottalanmiller said in Benefits of using open source GPL software:
@Dashrender said in Benefits of using open source GPL software:
Other than being free to use, what value does this give the people using it?
Open source does NOT mean free to use. It means free to support, inspect and modify. Often it is free to use, but that is not implied by the term open source nor by the GPL license.
OH? the GPL license doesn't mean that anything licensed under GPL has to be given away free?
Source code, that's all. Not a fully built and functioning version.
And you only have to give away the source if someone gets the binary legitimately. If you use GPL software internally, you need never give even the source away.
This doesn't even make sense. Is it GPL if you use it internally? I suppose you could license it under GPL, but why would you bother?
Of course it is GPL if you use it internally. You bother so that you are ready to release. Or, 99.9999% of the time, you do it because you have no choice because you used GPL code.
again, doesn't matter if you don't release it, as you already said.
It does for GPL. If you used any other GPL code and modified it in any way, you are required to provide that to the upstream provider.
No you don't. You have to provide source only if you redistribute it. not if you use it. Also you can charge for source if you redistribute software. You cannot charge for the source if you sell appliances (HW) based on open source code.
Back to main OP questions, GPL/BSD and so are useful because:
- you get more support form community. something quite difficult with closed source . In the latter case it is mostly empirical evidence, with opensource you can look at the code. Alao you can still buy enterprise support with opensource.
- I've done it a lot of code inspection to help myself understand where I was wrong. Something I can't do when I stuck with closed source. Here I must buy support.
- opensource is really audited by a larger audience