Alfresco Grows Distribution via LGPL
John Newton, founder and CTO of the Alfresco Software content management system (CMS) company, has announced a licensing change from GPL to LGPL for the software. The change should go into effect the next Alfresco community version.
Newton writes in his blog that his company could easily develop his software and brand with help of the General Public License. But now the time comes to open up the license to proprietary integration, hence to turn a back on GPL. The advantage of the Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is the ability to link in the Alfresco repository without affecting proprietary software linking it. The total switch to LGPL also makes it easier to link in LGPL components Alfresco already has, such as the Hibernate database service and jBPM for workflow.
The Berkeley graduate sees the licensing change as "more of an opportunity to be a platform beyond individual applications, particularly with the emergence of CMIS," which was introduced in the product mid-2009. With the OASIS standardized Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS), CMSs can share their contents. "We do this," says Newton, "in the spirit of making Alfresco available as a CMIS platform and a general ECM platform to build content applications without inhibiting your business opportunities. What we hope is that your applications will build demand for Alfresco services from Alfresco Software, particularly in larger enterprise environments."
Thus linking in closed software is a revenue source for Alfresco. It is a bit of a stretch to the attitude that customers with open source can save themselves a lot of money, as Newton had suggested for the Alfresco Community Edition 3.2.
The Group 451 business analysis venture is strengthened by Alfresco's decision in its observation that the "dominant GPL open source license may be fading from favor among commercial open source software players." Not to say that open source software is becoming less favored. On the contrary, as Jay Lyman of Group 451 notes, "much of the movement we�re seeing away from the GPL has to do with the desire and opportunity to place open source software alongside, within, on top of or otherwise with proprietary software."
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
The GNU Project Celebrates Its 40th Birthday
September 27 marks the 40th anniversary of the GNU Project, and it was celebrated with a hacker meeting in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland.
-
Linux Kernel Reducing Long-Term Support
LTS support for the Linux kernel is about to undergo some serious changes that will have a considerable impact on the future.
-
Fedora 39 Beta Now Available for Testing
For fans and users of Fedora Linux, the first beta of release 39 is now available, which is a minor upgrade but does include GNOME 45.
-
Fedora Linux 40 to Drop X11 for KDE Plasma
When Fedora 40 arrives in 2024, there will be a few big changes coming, especially for the KDE Plasma option.
-
Real-Time Ubuntu Available in AWS Marketplace
Anyone looking for a Linux distribution for real-time processing could do a whole lot worse than Real-Time Ubuntu.
-
KSMBD Finally Reaches a Stable State
For those who've been looking forward to the first release of KSMBD, after two years it's no longer considered experimental.
-
Nitrux 3.0.0 Has Been Released
The latest version of Nitrux brings plenty of innovation and fresh apps to the table.
-
Linux From Scratch 12.0 Now Available
If you're looking to roll your own Linux distribution, the latest version of Linux From Scratch is now available with plenty of updates.
-
Linux Kernel 6.5 Has Been Released
The newest Linux kernel, version 6.5, now includes initial support for two very exciting features.
-
UbuntuDDE 23.04 Now Available
A new version of the UbuntuDDE remix has finally arrived with all the updates from the Deepin desktop and everything that comes with the Ubuntu 23.04 base.