Help in choosing appropriate open-source license...

[David Dillard]

Actually, MySQL doesn't charge for large companies, they charge for
support - the number of employees and/or amount of revenue being
irrelevant.

Perhaps if you elaborated on what your goals are it would help.  For
example, do you want to allow companies to use the source?  Do you want
to allow companies to redistribute the source?  Do you want to allow
companies to modify the source?  Please add any other requirements or
desires that are important to you.

Btw, from the tone of your email I don't think what you *want* is really
open source, though it sounds like you might be able to live with it.


--- David

 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tony R [mailto:arajakum at gmail.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 3:08 PM
> To: license-discuss at opensource.org
> Subject: Help in choosing appropriate open-source license...
> 
> Folks:
> 
> I've read through the FAQ and some licenses, but I am afraid 
> I need some more help in understanding this issue:
> 
> [1] I have a speech application server I wish to release 
> open-source [2] Ideally, I'd like to do it like MySQL does it 
> - open source for anyone, and charged for large companies. 
> (Note that worst-case, I can drop this requirement, because I 
> feel it is a genuine step forward for the speech application 
> industry, and the benefits to the industry on balance exceed 
> the private benefit I may derive. Of course, I'd prefer not 
> to.) [3] The additional complication is that a large company 
> can use the server without ever distributing it, and there do 
> not seem to be any open-source license that deals with code 
> that is run on a server-farm and not distributed. There is no 
> web  page - the only externally 'visible' portion is the 
> audio that the speech application plays out.
> 
> Can you recommend a license that could fit this case? 
> Alternatively, are there licenses in the works that might 
> apply? If not, how do I go about crafting such a license?
> 
> Much thanks...
> 
> --Tony
>