{"id":40566,"date":"2022-06-10T22:28:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T20:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zuniclaw.com\/don-t-skip-this-checklist-if-your-employees-use-open-source-code\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T13:58:49","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T11:58:49","slug":"open-source-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zuniclaw.com\/en\/open-source-code\/","title":{"rendered":"Checklist If Your Employees Use Open-Source Code!"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\u201cI am a lazy person, which is why I like open-source, for other people to do work for me.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>

Linus Torvalds<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Never mind if you are just lazy or want to focus on creating innovations by the use of already established shortcuts, open-source libraries usually speed up and facilitate the development of software products in the day-to-day work of developers (ranging from, e.g. image processing library, data filtering library, big data analysis, full-stack frameworks to machine learning). Millions of open-source code components are downloaded every year off the Internet to help modern software development. Hence, there is no doubt that the open-source ecosystem has far removed from the group of enthusiasts who are struggling against the predatory restrictions of commercial software, and for many, it became mainstream. The best proof of this is the fact that some of today\u2019s most used technologies are based on open-source code (IoT, Healthcare, AI, Android).<\/p>

However, the fact that open-source software (hereinafter: OSS) is free does not mean that its use may not cost you a certain price. In fact, if you use an open-source library against their license, there is a chance you might eventually have to pay, as \u201cthere\u2019s no such thing as a free lunch\u201d.<\/p>

Okay, let\u2019s start from the beginning, so we could get to the directions that should be certainly taken into account.<\/p><\/div><\/section>

\u00a0<\/h2>

The Difference Between Proprietary and OSS Licenses<\/h2><\/div>

\u00a0<\/p>

The software, which represents the \u201cauthor\u2019s original creation\u201d, is protected by copyright<\/a>. The author or copyright holder decides who has the right to install and copy a computer program, has the right to use or sell it, publicly communicate, modify and improve it. Essentially, commercial software (software for commercial use such as sales) can be both proprietary software and OSS. However, the differences between them are crucial.<\/p>

When it comes to the proprietary software, licenses buy certain rights, that is, licenses define exactly what the user is restricted from doing and allowed to do with the software. First of all, the license should specify the answer to which code the user has access to \u2013 whether they have access only to the object code or have access to the source code as well. The rule is that the user can always access the machine code, while the access to the source code must be specially negotiated and not characteristic for, e.g., SaaS (Software As a Service) or for programs that are widely used and can be customized by users (e.g., Microsoft Office). In addition, the license agreement defines<\/a> where can the users install the software, how many times can they install it, and whether they can copy it, modify and distribute it.<\/p>

In short, the commercial software license starts with restrictions and then explicitly lists exceptions of what can be done with such software.<\/strong><\/p>

A typical example of proprietary software is Microsoft, which involves the purchase of several additional software licenses, such as Microsoft Windows operating system, IIS web server, Microsoft SQL Server database, and ASP.NET programming language.<\/p>

With open-source software, copyright<\/a> is turned \u201cupside-down\u201d.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p><\/div><\/section>

While licenses list what is allowed within them, the OSS licenses only list restrictions meaning that the starting point is the fact that the user has a whole range of rights, and only the conditions under which these rights can be exercised are precisely defined. The following four criteria are the basis of open source definition<\/a>:<\/p>