Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/20/affero_fsf_license/
FSF thickens license soup for SaaS
Tasty
Posted in Software, 20th November 2007 18:42 GMT
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The complicated world of open source licensing has become a bit more complicated [1], as the Free Software Foundation (FSF) [2] announced details [3] of the final version of its Affero General Public License GPL (AGPL).
The so-called Affero [4] clause was originally considered earlier this year for inclusion in the revamped GPL3 license but the idea was controversially [5] abandoned in favour of a separate license.
The license [6] plugs a loophole in the original GPL3 that had allowed companies to circumvent one of the central principles of open source development. By claiming that network server software - such as software as a service (SaaS) - was not covered, they could use and enhance open source components without returning the improvements to the open source pool.®
