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Try naming a single business that uses AGPL. Claiming that AGPL is business friendly is pretty deceptive (i.e. it is business friendly provided that your busin
by evgen 16y ago
Try naming a single business that uses AGPL.
Claiming that AGPL is business friendly is pretty deceptive (i.e. it is business friendly provided that your business is not the sale of software or online services), but around here most people will see straight through the bullshit, chuckle a bit, and move on.
The short version that everyone here who actually runs a business will tell you is that GPL is fine for most situations, but you should avoid anything that has the AGPL license for the core of your business unless you really have no other option.
- martey 16y agoStatus.Net (raised over $2 million in funding) uses the AGPL. Their software is similar to Twitter (they run http://identi.ca http://identi.ca), but they seem to be targeting the enterprise market: http://status.net/enterprise-network http://status.net/enterprise-network If I made my living selling desktop software, the benefit of using BSD licensed libraries without contributing back to the community would be obvious. The GPL has a similar status among web companies. As a consumer, however, I appreciate the choices that AGPL software give me (e.g. hosting the software on my own server, adding or removing features, etc.).
- hippich 16y agoI see status.net uses CC license?
- adulau 16y agoAffero (the A stands for Affero - http://www.affero.com/ http://www.affero.com/) was the first business to use it and they even designed the license. This is not a "traditional business" but the company still exists. Status.net (the company behind identi.ca) is relying on the AGPL and they got some funding. FooCorp (who is behind the libre.fm project) is also using the AGPL. The difference between the AGPL and GPL is somehow minor as this is just a standard GPL version 3 + the conveying modification for the network transport. It's funny how discussion about the AGPL is similar to the GPL misinformation propagated by Microsoft in the early 2000 : http://www.foo.be/photo/ms-pres-lux/img_0223r.jpg http://www.foo.be/photo/ms-pres-lux/img_0223r.jpg Software for an online service is just a small part of the overall business. So you still have competitive advantages with the infrastructure in place or your user base/community using your service.
- mark_l_watson 16y agoHow about 10gen, the company that created and maintains MongoDB? MongoDB is released under the AGPL.