3 ms·

What software is not commercial?

• Y_Y 4y ago
  Government software, public domain software
  • remram 4y ago
    Isn't all public-domain software automatically open source though?
    • danuker 4y ago
      It is. But very rarely do people publish software under the public domain. Most are under conditional licenses like MIT/BSD/GPL.
      • NikolaNovak 4y ago
        I don't think that's a full subset. Can't a developer release a binary of their software or make it available as public domain SaaS, without it being any kind of open source?
        • danuker 4y ago
          You are right. I wasn't considering binaries released to the public domain. In that case the source is not available. As for SaaS, what is in public domain? The output of the public server? There is no public domain software runnable or compilable by a third party.
      • jkaplowitz 4y ago
        True, but there is one major prominent exception: SQLite. The author of such programs as djbdns and qmail also eventually released those under the public domain, but SQLite is under that status while still being actively developed and widely used.
    • LarryMullins 4y ago
      Not necessarily, it's possible that somebody could release a software binary as public domain, while keeping the code private.
    • mch82 4y ago
      It seems CC0 may have simplified this now. The issue used to be that software enters the public domain after copyright expires & different countries interpret that different ways, which can become complicated without an explicit license document. “Using CC0 for Public Domain Software” https://creativecommons.org/2011/04/15/using-cc0-for-public-domain-software/ https://creativecommons.org/2011/04/15/using-cc0-for-public-... “CC0 FAQ” https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/CC0_FAQ#May_I_apply_CC0_to_computer_software.3F_If_so.2C_is_there_a_recommended_implementation.3F https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/CC0_FAQ#May_I_apply_CC...
  • lalaithion 4y ago
    Public domain software would be considered “commercial” under the DoD’s definition.
    • dwheeler 4y ago
      It's not the DoD definition. It's the US definition. The DoD simply tries to make that clear, because thinking "open source is not commercial" is a common misunderstanding.
• mastax 4y ago
  Commercial in this context is referring to "Commercial Off The Shelf" (COTS). Something that is available on the public market, rather than being produced specially for the government. Budgets, bids, etc. often specify whether something is or should be COTS.
• BlueTemplar 4y ago
  > Obviously, software that does not meet the U.S. government’s definition of “commercial computer software” is not considered commercial software by the U.S. government’s acquisition processes. For example, software that is released to the public as OSS is not considered commercial if it is a type of software that is only used for governmental purposes. In contracts where this issue is important, you should examine the contract to find the specific definitions that are being used. But in practice, publicly-released OSS nearly always meets the various government definitions for “commercial computer software” – and thus is nearly always considered commercial software.