What is Quantum Leaps software licensing model?
Quantum Leaps™, LLC uses a dual license strategy for the source code. Duality means that both the open software distribution mechanism and traditional software product business are combined.
The licenses we use are the GNU General Public License (GPL) and a set of Quantum Leaps proprietary commercial licenses. Quantum Leaps also uses the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) for selected documentation available from our website.
Dual licensing of the Quantum Leaps products provides open access to our technology both for the GPL community and for other developers or companies that cannot use the GPL. Please refer to section Licensing Overview for more information.
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What is the legal foundation behind the dual licensing model?
The legal requirement for dual licensing is the ownership of the copyrights to the licensed software. According to the copyright law, the owner of the copyright can license his or her intellectual property any number of times. Distributors of proprietary software do that all the time when they grant discounts to favored customers, issue blanket licenses for unlimited copies to large corporations, and apply shrink-wrap licenses to copies sold in stores [Rosen 04].
From the legal standpoint, GPL is no different from any other license and does not preclude other distribution strategies. The authors of the GPL recognize that fact through the following sentence in Section 7: "...it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing to distribute software through any other system..."
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Is Quantum Leaps dual license policy still "open source"?
Absolutely, as long as your software is 100-percent GPL-compliant open source, Quantum Leaps is 100-percent GPL-compliant open source vendor that is indistinguishable from any other "pure" open source providers.
The commercial side of our business is a way of attracting new customers by offering them a choice to extend the use of our software beyond the limits of the GPL. Commercial licensing options reach out to customers that otherwise would not be able to use Quantum Leaps solutions at all.
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Are other companies using the dual licensing business model?
Yes, the dual licensing business model is becoming increasingly popular among open source companies as it paves the way for long-term financial viability. Other companies that offer dual licensing include MySQL, Trolltech, Sleepycat, RealNetworks' Helix project, OpenOffice.org, Digium, OSAF, MandrakeSoft, Technical Pursuit Transvirtual Technologies, and others.
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How do I know which license to use?
The overall guiding principle of dual licensing is one of fair exchange or quid pro quo which means "something for something". So if your software is 100 percent open source and GPL-compatible, we encourage you to use the GPL-version of Quantum Leaps software. For all other users, we recommend that you purchase one of our commercial licenses.
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Linux™ applications are not ordinarily considered a GPL derivative. Why then QP applications are?
Indeed, past accepted use demonstrates that in the case of Linux™, any application that runs in the User Space is not ordinarily considered a GPL derivative, (provided it uses standard system calls). However, statically linked binaries that run in the Kernel Space are presumed to be Linux™ derivatives. Moreover, binary-only distributions running in either the User Space or the Kernel Space could still be considered GPL derived works. (See the online article "Linux GPL Derivatives in a Nutshell")
In contrast to Linux™, Quantum Platform (QP) applications are always statically linked with the QP library. Therefore, QP itself must be considered an inseparable "part of a whole". GPL Section 2 clearly prescribes that in this case "the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this [GPL] License". (For more information on our guidelines for distributing application software please refer to our "Open Source Licensing" section.)
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Do I get the same Quantum Leaps software under either license?
Yes. All Quantum Leaps products are identical under either the GPL license or the commercial licenses. This is a necessary condition for everyone to benefit from the "massively parallel testing" that occurs mostly in the open source community. If the open source and commercial versions were different, the battle-testing and feedback from one version wouldn't necessarily apply to the other.
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How much does a commercial Quantum Leaps license cost?
At Quantum Leaps we are as open with pricing as we are open with respect to our source code. The complete price list for our commercial licenses and support contracts is available from the "Commercial Licensing" section of this web site.
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Can I evaluate Quantum Leaps software under the GPL even though I have commercial use in mind?
Yes, you can use the GPL version for evaluation as long as you don't distribute Quantum Leaps software or any derivative works based upon it in any way. In this respect, evaluating dual-licensed software delivers a large advantage over highly supervised trial licensing practices still so common in the embedded systems marketplace.
Obviously, when you decide to distribute any portion of our software or any derivative works based on it, you go beyond the GPL limits and therefore you should purchase one of our commercial licenses.
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How can I contribute to Quantum Leaps?
Contributions to Quantum Leaps software, documentation, and online resources are very welcome and should be submitted via our Contributions web page.
Quantum Leaps asks that developers who wish to contribute code to our core products fill out the Joint Copyright Assignment (JCA) form so that the copyright is unified. The JCA ensures that Quantum Leaps can dual-license the contributions and defend license violations, if necessary. Please refer to the Contributions page for more details.
Will I receive any credit for my contributions to Quantum Leaps?
While it is impractical and not legally necessary to include all contributors' names in the copyright notice in the source code, Quantum Leaps will credit all accepted contributions online on our Credits web page as well as the in the credits.txt file distributed with our products. If you are not listed and should be, please treat it as a bug and submit a bug report.
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Can Quantum Leaps ever take away the code?
The simple answer is no. Even if circumstances beyond our control prevent Quantum Leaps from producing new open source editions the code once released under the GPL belongs forever to the open source community.
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Version: February 20, 2008