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I don't get why are these weirdo licenses needed If you want to prevent Amazon to use your software for SaaS, just license it with Affero GPL, it was invented

I don't get why are these weirdo licenses needed If you want to prevent Amazon to use your software for SaaS, just license it with Affero GPL, it was invented for this usecase (as far as I know) edit: okay I was wrong, see replies.

jclulow 8y ago
That wouldn't prevent them from using it to provide a service, it would merely require that they share any modifications they make to the code while doing so.
- runn1ng 8y ago
  I wrongly belied that Affero forces you to open source everything on the backend, which is not the case here. I was wrong
abrookewood 8y ago
I assume you are talking about this section? "13. Remote Network Interaction; Use with the GNU General Public License. Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, if you modify the Program, your modified version must prominently offer all users interacting with it remotely through a computer network (if your version supports such interaction) an opportunity to receive the Corresponding Source of your version by providing access to the Corresponding Source from a network server at no charge, through some standard or customary means of facilitating copying of software." I'm not sure that it prevents anyone from offering a SaaS version of your product - just that they have to make the code available if they modify it.
- runn1ng 8y ago
  indeed! I was wrong then, I thought the entire backend had to be open sourced, not just the modified version. I stand corrected then
  - webmaven 8y ago
    That depends on how (and how much) the backend is tied to the modified version (IANAL, don't ask me for specifics, it's REALLY gnarly, and there are various contradicting legal opinions).
zozbot123 8y ago
If the AGPL could prevent Amazon from publicly performing your software (let alone "using" it for SaaS, which is a hell of a lot more ambiguous), it wouldn't be any more DFSG- or OSI-compliant than the Commons Clause. As the other replies point out, the AGPL adds a copyleft clause that comes into play in these cases - nothing more than that.
- xbd100 8y ago
  Which de facto prevents Amazon from using the software. Hint: "prevent" has more than one colloquial meaning.

jclulow 8y ago

That wouldn't prevent them from using it to provide a service, it would merely require that they share any modifications they make to the code while doing so.

runn1ng 8y ago
I wrongly belied that Affero forces you to open source everything on the backend, which is not the case here. I was wrong

abrookewood 8y ago

I assume you are talking about this section? "13. Remote Network Interaction; Use with the GNU General Public License. Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, if you modify the Program, your modified version must prominently offer all users interacting with it remotely through a computer network (if your version supports such interaction) an opportunity to receive the Corresponding Source of your version by providing access to the Corresponding Source from a network server at no charge, through some standard or customary means of facilitating copying of software." I'm not sure that it prevents anyone from offering a SaaS version of your product - just that they have to make the code available if they modify it.

runn1ng 8y ago
indeed! I was wrong then, I thought the entire backend had to be open sourced, not just the modified version. I stand corrected then
- webmaven 8y ago
  That depends on how (and how much) the backend is tied to the modified version (IANAL, don't ask me for specifics, it's REALLY gnarly, and there are various contradicting legal opinions).

zozbot123 8y ago

If the AGPL could prevent Amazon from publicly performing your software (let alone "using" it for SaaS, which is a hell of a lot more ambiguous), it wouldn't be any more DFSG- or OSI-compliant than the Commons Clause. As the other replies point out, the AGPL adds a copyleft clause that comes into play in these cases - nothing more than that.

xbd100 8y ago
Which de facto prevents Amazon from using the software. Hint: "prevent" has more than one colloquial meaning.