License issue! Regarding changes to alfresco style

[sim085]

I have read this forum a little and found there are some misunderstandings related with the license of Alfresco.

My question is; if  I change Alfresco style so that it becomes similar to my website then worst case scenario is that I am forced to send the changes I made (in styles and html pages) to Alfresco not that I have to actually buy some licensing right? Or? I mean isn’t that the base of open source?

Regards,
Sim085

[sim085]

No one has any idea on this topic! Also now the licencing seem to be going to change as well .. to GPL! I am quite confused on what ways I can actually use this software (freely) and would never want to be cought doing anything illegal.

Regards,
Sim085

[leviter]

Did you already look at this page?

http://www.alfresco.com/legal/licensing/

[sim085]

Did you already look at this page?

http://www.alfresco.com/legal/licensing/

Hi,

thanks for the reply. Yes I did read that page and it seems to give justice to what I am saying. under 'For Enterprises, Government Organizations, Small-to-Medium-sized Businesses' you can read 'Those wishing to use Alfresco for free under the GPL should download Alfresco Community'

This means that Alfresco does allow the enterprise organizations to use Alfresco for free as long as they are using Alfresco Communitity version.

However, from the little I know about open source, if I make any changes to Alfresco Community then I have to actually provide my changes to Alfresco. I have no problems on this, but does this also extend to just changing the look and feel of the application (CSS and HTML documents?). Again I have no problems in providing Alfresco with these changes (at this moment don't even know if I plan to do those changes) my problem is that I do not know if I am actually allowed to do such changes or not!

Regards,
Sim085

[leviter]

The community edition is indeed free to use, but you're not getting the latest fixes, since the enterprise version got their main focus (which is totally logical).

And I don't think that when you change the look and feel that it is needed to send all your code changes to Alfresco. Suppose everybody did that when they customize it for a particular customer. That way you would get a lot of changes that nobody else is waiting for.

It is a different story when you change some parts in the core of the system or add some very nifty functionality that others would find useful… or fix some bugs.

– Marcel

[paulhh]

The main thing to remember with the GPL is that if you redistribute a changed version, it too must be GPL.

Of course, if you get commercial benefit (e.g. savings) by using Alfresco, then it would be good if you took out a support contract to help fund our work.  Also, if you're managing business content, you should naturally consider whether not having support available from us puts you business at some risk.  Naturally, I'm biased - I like having the development team we have, which means paying them 😉

Cheers
Paul.

[sim085]

The main thing to remember with the GPL is that if you redistribute a changed version, it too must be GPL.

Ok, I think I now understand it. Basically if I change the UI of Alfresco for a particular client then I it does not need to be GPL, while if I change the UI and let people download it for free then it must be under GPL. right?

Of course, if you get commercial benefit (e.g. savings) by using Alfresco, then it would be good if you took out a support contract to help fund our work.  Also, if you're managing business content, you should naturally consider whether not having support available from us puts you business at some risk.  Naturally, I'm biased - I like having the development team we have, which means paying them 😉

Cheers
Paul.

You are right regardless of whether you are biased or not I understand your point and totally agree with it. At the moment I am considering Alfresco for a personal project I have. But if I find it good I will definitly sugested to my current employeer and their clients

Regards and Many Thanks,
Sim085