01914nas a2200217   4500008004100000022001400041245008600055210006900141260001200210300000900222490000600231520125800237653002001495653001401515653003201529653003701561653002301598100002201621700001701643856003601660       2013                        eng d  a1927-032100aIntroducing “Business Source”: The Future of Corporate Open Source Licensing?0 aIntroducing Business Source The Future of Corporate Open Source   c06/2013  a5-120 v33 aThe benefits of the open source development model have been proven by the test of time; however, making this development model economically feasible can be challenging. In this article, Monty Widenius puts forth a suggestion for a new type of license, which is the result of the lessons learned from decades of work on open source, both as programmer and entrepreneur. The result, “business source”, is a license that seeks to enable a business model that can both harness the benefits of open source while generating sufficient income for the program’s continued development. The business source license automatically changes terms after a given period: an initial non-open source license with specific usage restrictions that transforms to a fully open source license on a specific future date.

In this article, we contribute a proposal for a novel license, a set of recommendations for managers, and a sample text of a business source license. This work will be of relevance to four main groups: i) those developing or managing a closed source program but who are interested in the benefits open source offers; ii) those managing open core programs; iii) projects in development; and iv) investors interested in funding open source projects.10abusiness source10aopen core10aopen source business models10aopen source software development10asoftware licensing1 aWidenius, Michael1 aNyman, Linus  uhttp://timreview.ca/article/691