license recommendation

[John Cowan]

Mr SZ scripsit:

> PS:If I buy the source code of a program,does it mean I own the code
> or do I just have the right to own it and modify it to some extent or
> something else?

If you just buy a copy, you have the right to do anything with the
copy except make more copies, make modified versions, distribute
either verbatim or modified copies, or publicly display the copy,
except as permitted by whatever license you have bought.

If you buy the *copyright* from the owner, you are in the same
position as the owner was.

-- 
John Cowan   cowan at ccil.org    http://ccil.org/~cowan
The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand
on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability.
Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land,
to add something to the extent and the solidity of our possessions.
        --Thomas Henry Huxley