Free Software???

[Hendrikdegraaf]

Hi,

I am pretty new to the world of Linux: I have been using Ubuntu for a couple of months now, and have also set up an ubuntu server on virtualbox.

The main reason I am trying to learn about linux is that I think it's really interesting, but I am also considering using it in my own business.

I have already found out that Ubuntu itself is ALWAYS free of charge, but it seems to me that OpenXchange is not......

Could someone please let me know if it is allowed to use the community version of openxchange as a business?

Thanks,
Hendrik

[Martin Heiland]

Hi,

first of all, "free software" does not mean the software is free as "free beer".
-> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

Ubuntu is free of charge, Open-Xchange is also free of charge when using the Community Edition. But you're also able to sell Ubuntu for a million dollars if you provide the sourcecode (just for example) if somebody is willing to pay for it. Providing the sourcecode is the point, not the price.

Open-Xchange has chosen the well known GPLv2 license for the server java code, you're allowed to sell it, modify it, whatever you want as long as you respect the terms of the GPL license
-> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html

The Open-Xchange GUI (HTML/Javascript/CSS) code is also available free of charge, but it's not free software like defined by the Free Software Foundation because it's licensed by the Creative Commons "ny-nc-sa" license. One aspect of this license is that you are not allowed to sell the software (the OX GUI), but you're allowed to use it for your own business.
-> http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/
-> http://www.open-xchange.com/footer/l...mmons_faq.html

Open-Xchange offers commercial releases (OX5, Express Editon, Hosting Edition) that use the sourcecode which is available to everybody but adds some features which are not open-source nor free software. Those commercial releases are also maintained and released in defined cycles which includes extensive testing and packaging as well as support and other business critical aspects.

Hope this helps

Greetings

[Rene Stach]

Could someone please let me know if it is allowed to use the community version of openxchange as a business?

Yes and no. This depends on the definition of business. All restrictions in terms of licensing depend on the license of the user interface. More information about this license and the meaning of non-commercial use can be found in the CC Commercial Guidelines.

Short summary: It is allowed to use it for free even in a company. It is allowed to provide services for Open-Xchange (install it, configure it, develop additional tools) and charge for that services. But it is not allowed to sell the software itself as a software package or as a service.

René

[Hendrikdegraaf]

Thanks for all the info! I will defenitely read up on those threads.

I'm glad I get the main point now:
Commercial use, doesn't refer to "use in a company setting", but it means "selling the software to make a profit".

Thanks a lot!

Hendrik

[Manuel]

But it is not allowed to sell the software itself as a software package or as a service.

We planned to offer OX accounts to our customers (similar to 1u1 but not that mass oriented) by installing the community edition on a server. As I understood your comment this is not allowed. So we would need the Hosting Edition, which is a bit oversized for our usecase.

[Martin Heiland]

Correct. But why do you think the Hosting Edition is too oversized? In general you're able to serve 10 customers or 100.000, it does only affect the required backends. If you want to host a small amount of accounts you just don't need to deploy large backends.

[Manuel]

Since webhosting is not our main product and the OX service was planned to be a "nice" and really cool extension, it was not planned to invest in software licenses to realize this feature.

Pricing of Open-Xchange fits into web hosting company’s basic pricing structure giving all user access to groupware.

Since we are not mainly a webhosting provider I'm pretty sure it will not "fit"...

In general you're able to serve 10 customers or 100.000, it does only affect the required backends.

you say it, it only affects the required backends. But will the required money for the software stay the same or scale with size? At the moment we probably only need <100 cause not every user will need the OX service.

[Martin Heiland]

AFAIK Hosting Customers get custom license plans depending on their needs, you really should contact Open-Xchange before abandoning this project