Open source licensing

Archiveopteryx may be used under the terms of the Open Software License, version 3.0, a copy of which is enclosed with Archiveopteryx. Even though its is open source, Archiveopteryx is backed by a full-time development and support team at Oryx.

Oryx also provides Archiveopteryx on commercial terms, including priority support and many more advantages.

About the Open Source License

The Open Source License is similar to the well-known GPL, but has a couple of important advantages. For example, it treats patents clearly. It also specifies that any lawsuits take place in Munich.

Here's a very simplified overview: You can use or copy Archiveopteryx for any purpose. If you modify or build on Archiveopteryx, you have to publish your work on the terms of the OSL 3.0. You don't receive any warranty from us (or anyone else). If you sue us, you may lose your right to use/copy Archiveopteryx.

We strongly recommend reading the license text if you consider using Archiveopteryx.

If you plan to use Archiveopteryx in a commercial setting, the proper approach is to get a commercial license, which will give you a guaranteed product backed by excellent support.

About dual licensing

Oryx is one of a small number of companies that base their business models on developing open source software. Why?

It is ethically good and we care about that. At Oryx, we want to earn a comfortable profit and behave ethically. Open source lets us provide good software to a large number of people. Surprisingly, it also makes business sense:

Open source helps because it widens our user base, provides more testing and spreads knowledge about Archiveopteryx. It helps you too, because even if you cannot pay our fees, you get the use of a high-quality mail archive server.

Open source doesn't hurt our sales noticeably. If Archiveopteryx were not freely available, many of our non-paying users would instead use another free server. Some would use a low-price commercial server. Some would use the market leader. Very, very few would purchase Archiveopteryx.

Commercial licensing helps because experience shows that open source doesn't finance software development, and because many people want their mission-critical software to be backed by a professional team.

We cannot plan to recover our initial investment and pay for a full-time team based on open source revenues. (Read more about commercial licensing.)

We know open source and have more than a decade's experience with it. To us as a team, the open source world is comfortable. Our business model builds upon our strengths.

In case of questions, please write to info@oryx.com.

Relevant links

About this page

Last modified: 2008-05-15
Location: aox.org/opensource