Open source licenses, virtual worlds and business, do they mix?
What if you wanted to do some business using open source software? You are most probably already doing that even if you may not realize it. Open source virtual worlds have different licenses and they are briefly covered here.
Consider this example: You pay to a developer company to make you an e-commerce web site. They do it and you launch it with a marketing campaign, everything is rolling smoothly, money flows in. Most probably almost everything is done using open source software components. Why? Because it is cheaper and easier that way.
Let’s see what software (just an example) is needed to run your e-commerce web site:
- Web site runs on Linux operating system (GPL) – you save in average 5€/month when compared to proprietary operating systems
- Apache web server (Apache open source license) – de facto standard web server
- MySQL database (GPL)
- Joomla content management system (GPL)
- VirtueMart shopping cart (GPL)
- And your customer may use Firefox web browser (GPL)
To put it briefly, business is possible. The above example is good in the sense that virtual worlds are used fundamentally the same way:
You make a virtual world and add some e-commerce aspects to it. Users use a virtual world viewer and come to browse your world and spend some money. In addition to that, you can sell your virtual world to another company if you wish.
Why licensed? Can’t the software just be available and used?
If a company writes software, they hold the copyrights to the code. License defines how this company want to make the software available for others. License can be purely commercial, like is the case with Microsoft Windows. License can give the binaries for free use, but give no rights to the source code, like Skype. Open source licenses give users access to the source code too. Licensing does not mean transfer of the copyright.
A company can license a software using as many licenses it wants; for example Linden Lab Second Life Viewer is licensed in GPL, but it also has a commercial license for 3rd party developers. In both cases, the copyright owner of the viewer code is Linden Lab.
How are different virtual world software distributions licensed?
OpenSim, the apache of virtual world servers, is using BSD license. BSD license is liberal, and some consider it business friendly. You can modify, split, chop, extend, deep-fry, wok, shrink wrap and sell it. Only thing to remember is to distribute the contributors.txt file with the software, so that the customer knows who made the original version of the software. No other strings attached.
For example OpenLife is using Opensim to run their virtual worlds and they have developed the code further on their own. Openlife may publish their version of the virtual world server software using GPL license later, and this all is perfectly legal and in harmony with Opensim BSD license. realXtend server and Modrex Opensim extensions are using BSD license as well.
Second Life Viewer is using GPL license, but is also available with a commercial license. The commercial license means that you get the source code and can develop your own version of the viewer, and use the result without giving the source code to your customer.
realXtend viewer is using GPL license. It is using GPL, because it is a modified SL Viewer. GPL license demands that if you use the source code to make a derived work, then the derived work must be licensed in GPL. GPL says that I can use the software for any purpose, even sell it, as long as I provide source code for my customers without any charges. Darkstar and Wonderland are also using GPL.
GPL makes some business cases unusable. If I made a better viewer for Second Life using the SL Viewer source code, I am obliged to give the source code to my customers for free, who can then continue to enhance the viewer. So I lose the rarity power which I gain from my own changes to the software because they are easily copied on. This is the area where many companies have made expensive mistakes.
Why companies choose to develop open source software in the first place?
Usually because the resources are limited and the task at hand is big. Using suitable open source license allows other companies and interested parties to join the effort.
Incompatible licenses
It may be very hard to mix software that use incompatible licensing. If you have GPL software and your own closed source application, there is no simple way to bundle them. If you do, you need to put your own application under GPL too, because it becomes part of the derived work with the GPL software – this is simple, but may destroy your application business.
Summary
Open source is a smart way to use resources and distribute effort. It is here to stay, increasingly so. It enables business, but it also changes some business models.
All the open source virtual world software available today, enables the basic business model, which is familiar from the web: You can build your own world on top of open source software, and generate income.
Resources:
GPL FAQ: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
Wikipedia page about open source
Book how to produce open source software (free)
realXtend web site: http://www.realxtend.org
Opensim web site: http://www.opensimulator.org
Darkstar web site: http://www.projectdarkstar.com
You might be interested to read the Project Wonderland licensing FAQ:
https://wonderland.dev.java.net/license-faq.html
Our module architecture makes it possible for people to create modules (artwork, artwork + code, just code, scripts, or whole worlds) for Wonderland that can be licensed under either an open source or commercial license. Only changes to the Wonderland core, which is quite small, need to be contributed back.