This semester I started a new class at Seneca College called Open Source Development. My first task was to create this blog (done!) and my first post is about Software Licenses.
I chose to read the licenses from Skype (proprietary software) and Mozilla Public License (MPL is a license that is used for all software developed by Mozilla). The main thing I concluded after comparing both licenses, and that’s obvious, is that in the proprietary license almost everything is relates to what you cannot do. For instance, on Skype Terms of Use in section 4.2 one agrees to not modify the software, not find the source code, not translate and lots of other things. Additionally, if one is using extra features one must agree with the Terms of Use from each different feature (section 4.3). These are agreements that almost every proprietary license has but there are some tricky points, such as in section 8.1 where the software’s company allows itself to change the rates for callings and not telling anything to consumers directly, just having to change it on the web site. In section 19.3 is shown that the service “Unlimited World Extra” has a minimum time of 2 years and the customer is not allowed to break the service’s contract before this time and if they do, they will be charged. There is also the part about the user’s data, that is a whole new document, which shows that the company behind the software can use basically all the information one provides, including voice calls, video calls, and location.
On the other hand, the license from Mozilla, in addition to being much smaller and clearer, focuses on guaranteeing the right of the users to change, modify, sell or transfer the contributions of others. A nice point is that if one changes something and creates a new version, it has to have a license that doesn’t infringe this one (section 3.1) that helps to maintain the principles of the company and the user’s rights. Also, new versions have to have an attachment with the new Terms of Use or a link to the MPL (section 10). Something that is in the MPL and also on the Terms of Use from Skype is that the software is not warranted to be free of errors or to work perfectly due to outside features that have to be provided and the user’s use, being this one responsible for repairs (section 6).
Overall, these are the main things I noticed when reading the licenses.