Licensing question

[Mark James]

On 02/26/10 14:07, Clayton Dukes wrote:
> Hello License Gods :-)
> I'm trying to figure out which licensing best suits my goals:
>
> 1. I want to allow smaller companies, say less than 50 employees, use
> my software free of charge.
> 2. Larger companies will pay a licensing fee (based on the size of the company).
> 3. Any modifications/bug fixes should be shared back.
> 4. Users cannot use my code in a commercial product without my permission.
>
> Can you recommend a license that fits this ideology?

Clayton, that's similar to the licence I use at Rails Wheels:

- Package authors can set different quarterly and/or one-off licence charges for particular
   types of users (non-profit, government, personal commercial, for-profit), as well as for
   particular ranges of user sizes (number of employees).

- Like OSS, source is available, and can be freely redistributed and modified, as long as
   recipients are informed that they have to purchase a licence from the original author
   if and when they make production use of either the software or a derived version.

- The original author can grant contributors and forkers free licences or revenue shares.

- Software users can licence many different packages through the one site, so that they
   only have to make a single quarterly payment for any software for which they haven't
   bought an outright license.


The way I see it, the great advantages of OSS are--

   1. Exposing the source and build system, allowing easy customization and repair, and
   2. The unhindered cooperative development model made possible by unrestricted redistribution.

But I don't see the beer-wise free aspect of OSS as being practical and important in all
circumstances, particularly for smaller packages. TANSTAAFB!

There needs to be a way to fund open software so that it can be more than just a
side-line or a path to a proprietary software job, and doesn't rely on pan-handling,
advertising, or the freemium model (charging for closed documentation, support, or components).

Mark