Software Licenses

Recently in class I have been learning about a bunch of different types of software licenses and just how important they are to include on my future projects. A software license is essentially a type of legal instrument that controls the use and redistribution of software in order to help protect the author. According to a website called TechTarget, the main use of a software license is “Software licenses typically provide end users with the right to one or more copies of the software without violating copyrights. The license also defines the responsibilities of the parties entering into the license agreement and may impose restrictions on how the software can be used.” Before taking CS-348 I didn’t know much about software licenses and how they worked. I knew there were a couple different types, but I didn’t realize how many types there are actually are and I also didn’t understand how important that they are. Personally, I think TechTarget did a great job explaining the differences between licenses and how they work. While most people think that these licenses are just to protect developers and their code, they are also used in order to protect users. They help the users avoid and protect themselves from infringement claims and also limit their legal liability if something were to happen. Sadly, these software licenses are not free. There isn’t a set price that every license costs, most of them have their own prices which depends on the type of license that it is. Some of these prices include a one time fee, some are a subscription fee, and others include a purchase fee plus a subscription fee. Although these licenses can be expensive, I think that it is worth it in order to help protect yourself and your users.

While there are a bunch of different software licenses, there are two main types that are viewed differently under copyright law. One of the main types of software licenses are free and open source software licenses, otherwise known as FOSS licenses. These types of licenses give the user a lot of freedom, and even allow them to use the source code. FOSS may allow these customers to change the software themselves if the user desires it. The other main type of software license is known as a proprietary license. These licenses are more commonly known as closed source licenses. Closed source licenses are much more strict than FOSS licenses, and don’t give the user much freedom. The users receive operational code, however they are not allowed to freely alter the software that they have been given. On top of that, these users are not allowed to obtain the source code through reverse engineering.

Synopsis: https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/software-license