We are currently considering various CMS packages for a major project, and to this end I have a few questions about the Umbraco license:
Questions from potential pro customer:
-If we buy a PRO license is it then covered by a proprietary license or an open source license? If it is a proprietary license what are the license terms?
-If we buy a PRO license do we then get access to the source code for the extra stuff added compared to the Community editions (viewable code)?
-Can we buy support services for the free edition? From your price table it seems that support is only available for the PRO licenses.
-Are you offering any individual extra modules/add-ons in addition to those features bundled into the Pro licenses? And if yes, are these extra modules offered as open source or proprietary licenses and do we get access to the source code for them if we buy them (viewable code)?
-I assume we can start out with the free edition and later easily upgrade to the PRO edition. But can we also easily downgrade from the PRO edition to the free edition if we decide?
-Who owns the copyright to the core open source code?
-If we contribute code to the project who will then have the copyright to that code? Will your company be able to use our code contributions in your commercial PRO licenses?
-Do we need to sign a contributor agreement if we contribute code?
-Is the open source license a permissive or reciprocal license?
-If we develop an add-on can we then promote and sell this add-on on a commercial basis with a proprietary license, or do we have to contribute the code back to the open source project? Would proprietary commercial add-ons work with the free edition or only with the PRO editions?
-I understand that you have a specific license for the Umbraco UI – please tell me what this is and means.
The license is and will be open source, either on a pro or non-pro license.
All of the core code from Umbraco is already completely open sourced. Some extra packages (like Contour and Courier) are closed sources and there's a proprietary license attached to them (you don't get access to the full source of those).
To the best of my knowledge: commercial support is only available through a pro license. You can always try community support right here on the forum though.
Yes (Courier for example). This is proprietary code and you do not get access to the source.
Sure, downgrading doesn't mean you loose anything.
I believe the Umbraco coorporation does, but the license is plain and simple: Umbraco core is completely open source, so you can fork it if you want (just don't use the name and logo of Umbraco).
You will have the copyright at first, but if you share the code it will be open sourced and you can't lay claim to it.
No contributor agreement, but also no guarantee at all as to whether your code will be added to the core.
Not sure, the MIT license seem permissive to me.
Yes you can, no code has to be contributed back. They would work in either edition (as they are exactly the same).
The UI (backend of Umbraco) may not be stripped of the logo and Umbraco names, if you buy the pro license the logo and name could be removed. It also allows you to set up a private package repository (instead of using Umbraco's central one).
Thank you for the answers Sebastiaan - I have a few more follow-ups:
- I am not sure I understand answers 1 and 2. You state that the PRO editions are open source but that extra features like contour and courier are proprietary closed source licensed. As I understand it the PRO editions consist simply of the core plus contour, courier, etc. How can the PRO editions then be open source if they contain these proprietary extensions? When I look at the Umbraco website it mentions several places that PRO editions are covered by a "commercial license" with "no open source restrictions".
- You state that we do not get source code access to e.g. Courier. But in the price matrix on http://umbraco.org/products is says that PRO editions include all source code
- Is there anywhere we can see/review the proprietary licenses before we buy?
- Is it possible to buy extra modules/extensions (like Contour, Courier, etc.) as add-ons to the Community edition?
- I understand that if we contribute code then we assign copyrights to the company behind Umbraco, allowing them to use our code contributions in their PRO editions. Is that correct and do we also retain copyright to the code that we contribute, so that we are free to use it in parallel?
- If we buy a PRO edition I understand that the support subscription is mandatory. What happens if we later do not want to have and pay for support. Will we then be forced to downgrade to the Community edition and uninstall the extra features included in the PRO edition? Will the PRO license automatically expire if we don’t renew our support subscription?
Various license questions
Greetings,
We are currently considering various CMS packages for a major project, and to this end I have a few questions about the Umbraco license:
Questions from potential pro customer:
- If we buy a PRO license is it then covered by a proprietary license or an open source license? If it is a proprietary license what are the license terms?
- If we buy a PRO license do we then get access to the source code for the extra stuff added compared to the Community editions (viewable code)?
- Can we buy support services for the free edition? From your price table it seems that support is only available for the PRO licenses.
- Are you offering any individual extra modules/add-ons in addition to those features bundled into the Pro licenses? And if yes, are these extra modules offered as open source or proprietary licenses and do we get access to the source code for them if we buy them (viewable code)?
- I assume we can start out with the free edition and later easily upgrade to the PRO edition. But can we also easily downgrade from the PRO edition to the free edition if we decide?
- Who owns the copyright to the core open source code?
- If we contribute code to the project who will then have the copyright to that code? Will your company be able to use our code contributions in your commercial PRO licenses?
- Do we need to sign a contributor agreement if we contribute code?
- Is the open source license a permissive or reciprocal license?
- If we develop an add-on can we then promote and sell this add-on on a commercial basis with a proprietary license, or do we have to contribute the code back to the open source project? Would proprietary commercial add-ons work with the free edition or only with the PRO editions?
- I understand that you have a specific license for the Umbraco UI – please tell me what this is and means.
Kind regards,
Mark Johnston
Thank you for the answers Sebastiaan - I have a few more follow-ups:
- I am not sure I understand answers 1 and 2. You state that the PRO editions are open source but that extra features like contour and courier are proprietary closed source licensed. As I understand it the PRO editions consist simply of the core plus contour, courier, etc. How can the PRO editions then be open source if they contain these proprietary extensions? When I look at the Umbraco website it mentions several places that PRO editions are covered by a "commercial license" with "no open source restrictions".
- You state that we do not get source code access to e.g. Courier. But in the price matrix on http://umbraco.org/products is says that PRO editions include all source code
- Is there anywhere we can see/review the proprietary licenses before we buy?
- Is it possible to buy extra modules/extensions (like Contour, Courier, etc.) as add-ons to the Community edition?
- I understand that if we contribute code then we assign copyrights to the company behind Umbraco, allowing them to use our code contributions in their PRO editions. Is that correct and do we also retain copyright to the code that we contribute, so that we are free to use it in parallel?
- If we buy a PRO edition I understand that the support subscription is mandatory. What happens if we later do not want to have and pay for support. Will we then be forced to downgrade to the Community edition and uninstall the extra features included in the PRO edition? Will the PRO license automatically expire if we don’t renew our support subscription?
Thanks again!
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