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Proprietary software

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Proprietary software is computer software which is the legal property of one party. The terms of use for other parties is defined by contracts or licensing agreements. These terms may include various privileges to share, alter, dissemble, and use the software and its code. [1]

The free software community and some parts of the technology media use the term as an antonym for free software. Free software is indeed usually the legal property of someone, thus meeting the literal definition of "proprietary", but the term "proprietary software" is used in this context to mean that either the source code of the software is not available, or the licensor does not grant the freedoms to use, modify, and distribute that are granted by free software licences.

Exclusive legal rights to software by a proprietor contradict the kinds of freedom which are essential for free software. However, even software which is not proprietary, for example public domain software and software under a permissive licence, does not comply with the definition of free software, if the source code of that software is not available.[2] Proprietary software includes closed-source freeware and shareware.

The free software movement's founder Richard Stallman sometimes uses the term "user-subjugating software" to describe proprietary software, while Eben Moglen sometimes talks of "unfree software". In a Free Software Foundation article, software which differs from free software only in that it limits the freedom to non-profit uses, is “semi-free” and not “proprietary”.[3] The term "non-free" is often used by Debian developers to describe any software whose licence does not comply with Debian Free Software Guidelines, and they use "proprietary software" specifically for non-free software that provides no source code. The Open Source Initiative prefers the term "closed source software"[citation needed].

Software distributions considered as proprietary may in fact incorporate a "mixed source" model including both free and non-free software in the same distribution.[4] Most if not all so-called proprietary UNIX distributions are mixed source software, bundling open source components like BIND, Sendmail, X Window System, DHCP, and others along with a purely proprietary kernel and system utilities.[5][6]

For some free software, the same laws used by proprietary software are used to preserve the rights to use, copy and modify the software. This technique is called copyleft.

Examples

Well-known examples of proprietary software include Microsoft Windows, RealPlayer, iTunes, Adobe Photoshop, Mac OS X, WinZip and some versions of Unix.

Some free software packages are also simultaneously available under proprietary terms. Examples include MySQL, Sendmail and ssh. The original copyright holders for a work of free software, even copyleft free software, can use dual-licensing to allow themselves or others to redistribute proprietary versions. Non-copyleft free software (i.e. software distributed under a permissive free software licence or released to the public domain) allows anyone to make proprietary redistributions.

Some proprietary software comes with source code or provides offers to the source code. Users are free to use and even study and modify the software in these cases, but are restricted by either licences or non-disclosure agreements from redistributing modifications or sharing the software. Examples include Pine, the Microsoft Shared source licence program, and certain proprietary implementations of ssh.

Shareware, like freeware, is proprietary software available at zero price, but differs in that it is gratis only for a trial period, after which some restriction is imposed or it is completely disabled. Proprietary software which is no longer marketed by its owner and is used without permission by users is called abandonware and may include source code. Some abandonware has its source code placed in the public domain either by its author or copyright holder and is therefore free software, not proprietary software.

For certain proprietary software where the user can access source code, such as online applications (such as Internet forum software) or Java applications (where the source can be obtained by decompiling), some developers will obfuscate the source code in order to make it difficult for users to obtain the original code.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Definitions - SAM - Chapter 4800".
  2. ^ "Categories of Free and Non-Free Software - Free Software Foundation".
  3. ^ Categories of Free and Non-Free Software - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)
  4. ^ Engelfriet, Arnoud (August/September 2006). "The best of both worlds". Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) (19). New Hibernia House, Winchester Walk, London Bridge, London SE1 9AG, United Kingdom: Gavin Stewart. Retrieved 2008-05-19. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. ^ Loftus, Jack (2007-02-19). "LinuxWorld: Managing mixed source software stacks". SearchEnterpriseLinux.com. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ Tan, Aaron (2006-12-28). "Novell: We're a 'mixed-source' company". CNET Networks, Inc. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
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