Can open source software be produced by a software house?

Question

Hi,

1. Is linux packaged, marketed and supported by SUN or IBM open sourced or proprietary?

2. Under what circumstances will Win 2008 server be called an "open source"?

3. Name some of the prominent proprietary software available today.

4. Are mainframes always proprietary?

Hope you can help me understand these issues...

Answer 1

Sure it can, though it is a bit difficult to make money of it.  So in the case of a Linux-distro, most is Open Source, but some bits (like the installprogram they've written temselves) are not.  If the licence on the installer only allows installing to one machine, it doesn't help that everything it installs can be installed on as many as you like.

There are examples of software houses releasing old versions into open source (eg. Netscape, which resulted in Mozilla and Firefox), and there are examples of things first released as open source (to build a userbase?), which have later been restricted.

Many software houses has also bought open source projects, although the projects usually remains open.

1) If you mean the Linux-*kernel*, then I believe IBM supported Linux and may have released their own distro.  If you think about "software typically bundled in a Linux distro", then yes, both IBM and SUN sell products containing opensource programs.  SUN has the OpenSolaris project, with an alternative kernel (non-Linux) is available with some SUN produced software and much "typical linux" (GNU) software, but all compiled to run on OpenSolaris (instead of Linux).

2) At very least MS had to make the *full source* of the program available -- but preferbly they'd also have to make it available with a licence that allowed users to 1)modify the sourcecode and 2)use all or parts of the sourcecode in other project, as long as 3)the licence of any derived project couldn't be further restricted.

3) Windows, Office, PhotoShop, 3d Studio, AutoCad,...

4) Do you mean the *programs* running on them, or the actual mainframes?  You certainly can run Linux and therfor much open source software on mainframes.  The actual hardware (the machine) is certainly proprietary.