Software Licences

A software licence is a legal agreement between the software owner and the user. It states what the user may and may not do with the software, so both sides know exactly what is allowed.

Software is protected by copyright as soon as it is written. That means other people cannot legally copy or use it unless the owner gives permission. The licence is how that permission is given while the owner keeps control.

What a licence can set

A licence can include conditions such as:

• how many devices the software may be installed on, for example a recipe-planning program licensed for one kitchen tablet;
• how many people may use it, such as a youth theatre group whose licence lets ten helpers log in;
• how long it may be used, for example a one-year licence for a holiday club's booking system;
• whether copying, modifying or passing it on to someone else is permitted.

Permission, not ownership

Buying or downloading software gives you permission to use it under the licence. It does not give you ownership of the software itself, so you cannot treat it as yours to copy, change or sell.

Using software outside the terms of its licence, such as installing it on more devices than allowed or sharing copies with friends, breaks copyright law. If a licence allows three installations and you install it on a fourth laptop, you are using the software without permission, and the owner could take legal action. The licence protects the developer's work and earnings, and it tells users plainly what is permitted.

A proprietary licence is the licence used for proprietary software, which is also called closed source. It sits alongside open source as one of the two licence types in this topic.

The source code stays private

When you install proprietary software, you get the finished program only. The source code is kept secret by the person or company that owns the software. You can run the program but you cannot open it up to see how it works or change what it does.

For example, a dance school buys a ready-made class-booking program. The printed class list comes out in a fixed layout, and the staff cannot alter it themselves, because the code that produces the layout is not shared with them.

What the licence restricts

A proprietary licence places limits on three things:

• Copying — you may not make extra copies to hand round to other people.
• Modifying — you may not change the software, since you have no source code to change.
• Redistributing — you may not pass the software on, or sell it, to anyone else.

The licence can also limit how many users or devices may run the software and how long it may be used, so paying once does not automatically let you install it on every computer in a building.

Bought ready-made

Proprietary software is usually off-the-shelf: written in advance for a wide market and bought ready to install, often for a one-off price or as a subscription. Buying a copy does not make the software yours — the licence only gives you permission to use it, under the conditions set out in the agreement.

Proprietary software is owned by a person or company, and its licence brings advantages to two groups: the developer who owns it and the people who use it.

Benefits to the developer

The developer can sell the software, earning money from a one-off price or from a subscription paid regularly. Because the source code stays secret, competitors cannot read it and copy the ideas into their own product. The licence makes clear what users are not allowed to do, so the owner can take legal action against anyone who copies or shares the software without permission, protecting the developer's work and income.

Benefits to the user

Users get software that is usually well tested before release, so there are fewer faults to interrupt their work. The developer provides support, updates and security fixes, so users can ask for help and receive repairs or protection when a problem is found. Proprietary software often comes with documentation and training materials, which help users learn how to use it. Popular packages are widely used, so files created in them are likely to open correctly for other people.

Linking each benefit to the right group

For example, a small team writes booking software for dance schools. The team charges each school a yearly subscription and keeps the code private, while the schools receive updates, a help guide and files that other dance schools can open.

Proprietary software belongs to a person or company, and its source code is kept private. That control brings drawbacks both for the people who use the software and for the company that makes it.

It usually costs money. You normally pay a one-off price or a regular subscription, and a subscription keeps taking money every month whether or not you use the software much. A driving instructor who pays monthly for booking software loses access to her pupils' appointments if she cancels, even though she has paid for years. Paying buys permission to use the software, not the software itself.

You cannot change it or fix it yourself. Without the source code you cannot add a feature your organisation needs or repair a bug. A youth club that wants its membership program to print badge labels has to ask the developer, wait for a reply and possibly pay for the change. Until the developer acts, the problem stays.

You depend on the developer. If the company stops updating the software, goes out of business or drops the product, bugs stay unfixed and the software may stop working with newer operating systems. You cannot take over its maintenance yourself.

The licence restricts use. A licence may limit what the software can be used for, how many people can use it or where it can be installed. A theatre group that buys a new backstage laptop may need permission to move its ticketing software across, and may have to pay again. It cannot simply treat one paid copy as something it can install wherever it likes.

The developer pays for everything. The company must fund all development, testing and customer support itself, before any sales come in. If the software sells poorly, those costs are lost, and paying support staff and writing regular updates are expensive.

These are not the drawbacks of open source software, where the usual problem is support coming only from community forums.

Open source software is software released with its source code freely available, so anyone who wants to can read it, change it and pass it on. It is usually free of charge as well, though the price is not what makes it open source — publishing the code is.

Source code is the human-readable set of instructions a programmer writes. With open source, that code is published rather than hidden, which gives users three features:

• Access to the source code — you can open and view the code to see exactly how the software works, which is also a good way to learn to program.
• Modification — you can edit the source code itself, not just the settings, so the software does what you need. A small cinema could change an open source ticket-booking program so it also reserves wheelchair spaces, rather than only selling seats.
• Redistribution — you can hand on copies, including your changed version, so improvements spread instead of staying on one machine.

Who builds it

Open source projects are often made by a community: volunteer programmers and companies working together. Someone who finds an error can fix it and send the change back, so the software grows through many small contributions rather than the work of one company.

It is still licensed

Open source does not mean there are no rules. The software is still protected by copyright and released under a licence that sets out what you may do with it. The licence is what gives permission to view, change and share the code; without it, copyright would stop you copying the software at all.

Open source software is released with its source code available for anyone to see. That one feature brings benefits both to the people who use the software and to the people who write it.

Benefits to the user

• It is usually free. You can download and use it without paying a licence fee, which matters when there is very little money to spend and buying a licence for every machine is out of reach. Free of charge and open source are not the same thing, though: what makes it open source is the open code, not the price.
• You can change it to suit your own needs. Because the source code is there, you can edit it rather than just changing settings. A youth club running a free booking program could edit the code so it asks for a parent's phone number as well as an email address.
• You can share it and install it on as many computers as you need. There is no per-machine payment, so the same program can go on every computer in a room, or be passed on to a friend, at no extra cost.
• Many people can check the code. Anyone can read it, so mistakes and security flaws are often spotted and fixed quickly by the community rather than waiting for one company.

Benefits to the developer

• Other programmers can contribute. They can add features, translate the menus or repair bugs for free, so a project can grow faster than one person could manage alone.
• The software can spread widely. Being free and shareable helps it reach a large audience and become well known, which can bring donations, offers of paid work or job offers for the developer.
• It suits projects meant to help everyone. If the aim is a tool that anyone can use and improve, such as a program that reads a school timetable aloud, an open source licence lets the whole community benefit.

Open source software is usually free and anyone can change it, but the way it is shared and developed brings drawbacks. Some affect the people using the software, and others affect the people who wrote it.

Drawbacks for the user

Support usually comes only from the community. There is rarely a help desk or phone line, so when a feature will not work you search forums and hope another user has hit the same problem. On a small project, nobody may answer for days.

Quality and documentation vary, because projects are run by volunteers or by people fitting them around other work, not by a company paid to polish them. A tool released by an experienced team may be excellent, while another is half-finished with a manual that skips the installation steps.

Updates depend on volunteers. If the people maintaining a project lose interest, it can be abandoned, so bugs and security fixes never arrive. A bakery's online order page that relies on a small open source form tool could stop receiving fixes once its maintainer moves on.

Setting it up can need more technical skill. Some packages arrive without an installer, so you copy files into the right folder or edit a settings file by hand, and altering how the program behaves means working with the source code.

It may also be less compatible with popular proprietary formats. Opening a design file created in a commercial package can rearrange the layout, and exported documents may look different on someone else's computer.

Drawbacks for the developer

Open source software can still be sold, but earning money from copies is difficult: once one person has it they can pass it on free of charge, so a price per copy rarely works. Some developers instead charge for support, training or setting it up.

Anyone can copy the code, including competitors. A two-person team who write a climbing-wall route planner may find a larger company reuses their code inside its own product, which the licence permits.

Every software licence is built on copyright: the software belongs to someone, and the licence sets out what other people may do with it, while the copyright stays with the owner either way.

So open source software is still protected by copyright and is still released under a licence. It is easy to assume that open source means nobody owns the code or that copyright does not apply; it does, and ignoring the licence conditions is just as much a breach of the law as it is with closed source.

Legal issues

Doing something the licence does not allow breaks copyright law, whichever type it is. Installing proprietary software on more computers than its licence permits, or redistributing open source code without keeping to its licence terms, are both copyright infringement. The licence is what tells you where the line is.

Ethical issues

Ethics is about what is fair, not just what is legal. With open source, others can take your code, change it and sell it on, and some may pass it off as their own work. The licence permits the reuse, but the original developer may still feel it is unfair after all their effort. Against that, open source is usually free, so more people can get hold of the software, including those who could never pay for it. A teenager teaching themselves to code at home can download the tools they need at no cost, and many people see that wider access as the fairer outcome.

The ethical trade-off comes down to control: a proprietary owner keeps a tight grip on copying and distribution, while an open source owner gives that control away in exchange for wider use and reuse of their code.

Recommending a licence means matching the needs in the scenario to a licence type, then justifying your choice. Describing both types without deciding is not a recommendation, and saying it is up to the developer is not a choice either.

Start with the developer

Ask what the person or company releasing the software wants. If they want to earn money by selling copies and keep the source code secret so nobody can copy or change it, a proprietary licence fits: it restricts copying, modifying and redistributing, which protects the owner's work and income. If they want others to view, improve and share the code, an open source licence fits, because the source code is available for anyone to change and pass on. Open source does not stop a developer earning: they can charge for support and services rather than for the software itself.

Then think about the user

• If the user needs to change the software to suit their own work, open source gives them the source code to edit.
• If the user needs professional support and regular updates, proprietary software usually has a company behind it.
• If the user has little money and can install software themselves, open source is usually free of charge.

Decide, then justify

For example, a mobile pet-grooming business has a booking and reminder system built for it. The owner wants to charge other grooming salons to use the same system and hide how it works, so a proprietary licence suits them: charging other salons earns money, and the restrictions stop them copying or passing the system on. Now picture a beekeeper who wants a hive-record app but has no budget, while her nephew, who is studying computing, can edit the code to record extra details about each hive. Open source suits her: it costs nothing and the code can be adapted to her hives.

A strong recommendation covers both types, weighs the advantages and disadvantages for the people involved, and is organised clearly in paragraphs or a table.