List of formerly proprietary software
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
This is a list of notable software packages which were published under a proprietary software license but later released as free software or open source software, or into the public domain.
In some cases, the company continues to publish proprietary releases alongside the non-proprietary version.
Title | Original release | Relicensed release | New license | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adobe Flex | 2004 | 2007 | MPL | Since renamed to Apache Flex and changed to Apache License 2.0 | |
AdvFS | 1990s | 2008 | GPL v2 | HP opened up AdvFS from Tru64 UNIX. | |
AOLserver | 1999 | GPL / modified MPL | [1] | ||
Apache Derby | 1996 | 2004 | Apache License 2.0 | Relational database management system originally called Cloudscape; released as free and open-source software by IBM in 2004 and donated to the Apache Software Foundation | |
Apache Wave | 2009 | 2009 | Apache License | Formerly Google Wave.[2] | |
Atom | 2014 | 2014 | MIT License | [3] | |
BDS C Compiler | 1979 | 2002 | Public domain | Released by author | |
Bitstream Vera (font) | 2003 | custom | Through the efforts of Bitstream and the GNOME Foundation | ||
Blender | 1996 | 2003 | GPL | ||
Catacomb | 1989 | 2014 | GPL v2 | [4] | |
Catacomb II | 1991 | 2014 | GPL v2 | [4] | |
Catacomb Abyss | 1992 | 2014 | GPL v2 | [4] | |
Catacomb Armageddon | 1992 | 2014 | GPL v2 | [4] | |
Catacomb 3D | 1991 | 2014 | GPL v2 | [4] | |
C*Base | 1980s | 2003 | GPL | ||
CDE | 1993 | 2012 | LGPL v2+ | [5][6] | |
CMU Sphinx | 2000 | BSD | [7][8] | ||
Coherent | 1980 | 2015 | 3-clause BSD License | [9] | |
CuneiForm | 1993 | 2008 | BSD | Optical character recognition software | |
Dink Smallwood | 1998 | 2003 | zlib-like | Some game data (e.g. sounds) not released under a free license.[10] | |
Doom engine | 1993 | 1999 | GPL | Code only. Originally released under a restrictive license in 1997 | |
Duke Nukem 3D | 1996 | 2003 | GPL | Game code only, no data, no engine. | |
Etherpad | 2008 | 2009 | Apache License 2.0 | Open sourced after being purchased by Google | |
Falcon | 2007 | GPL | [11] | ||
FAR Manager | 1996 | 2007 | BSD | Version 2.0 released as open source. | |
Fish Fillets | 1998 | 2002 | GPL | ||
Free Download Manager (FDM) | 2003 | 2007 | GPL | Free since version 2.5[12] | |
GEM | 1985 | 1999 | GPL | Development continued as OpenGEM and FreeGEM. | |
Gentium (font) | 2002 | 2005 | OFL | Through the efforts of SIL International | |
GLX | 1990s | 2008 | SGI FreeB License | [13] | |
HoverRace | 1996 | 2006 | BSD | ||
Hovertank 3D | 1991 | 2014 | GPL v2 | [4] | |
ILWIS | 1988 | 2007 | GPL | Released as free and open-source software by ITC | |
id Tech 2 | 1997 | 2001 | GPL | ||
id Tech 3 | 1999 | 2005 | GPL | ||
id Tech 4 | 2004 | 2011 | GPL | The released version is the source code to Doom 3; source code to newer id Tech 4 games has yet to be released. Changes to the code had to be made to avoid use of the patented Carmack's Reverse. | |
JaikuEngine | 2006 | 2009 | Apache License 2.0 | [14] | |
Java | 1995 | 2006–2007 | GPL | On 13 November 2006, Sun Microsystems released much of Java as free software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). On 8 May 2007 Sun finished the process, making all of Java's core code free and open source, aside from a small portion of code to which Sun did not hold the copyright.[15] | |
Jumper 2.0 | 2007 | 2008 | GPL | Publicly announced on 29 September 2008,[16] | |
Korn shell | 1982 | 2000 | custom; now CPL | ||
LightZone | 2005 | 2012 | 3-clause BSD | Company went out of business | |
Marathon 2: Durandal | 1995 | 2000 | GPL | Only the code was released under the GPL. Now known as Aleph One | |
MegaZeux | GPL | Both the code and the world files and music files are made freely available. | |||
MINIX | 1987 | 2000 | BSD | ||
Motif | 1980s | 2012 | LGPL v2+ | [17] | |
Movable Type | 2001 | 2007 | GPL | Weblog software | |
NetBeans | 1997 | 2007 | GPL, CDDL | An integrated development environment (IDE) for Java and other programming languages | |
Netscape Enterprise Server | 2009 | BSD | Sun Microsystems open sourced it.[18] | ||
Netscape Navigator/Communicator | 1994 | 1998 | MPL | See Mozilla[19][20] | |
OpenGL sample implementation | 1992 | 2008 | SGI FreeB License | [13] | |
Open Sound System | 1992 | 2007 | GPL, CDDL | ||
OpenWRT | ? | 2003 | GPL | As Linksys built the firmware for their WRT54G wireless router also from GPL'ed code,[21] they were required to make the source code available in July 2003.[22][23] | |
Performance Co-Pilot | 1993 | 1999 | GPL, LGPL | ||
Qt | 1991 | 1999 | QPL | First released as open source under the QPL. Later released as GPL. Qt 4.5 and later are released under the LGPL. Until 2005 the Windows version was only under proprietary license. | |
Quake engine | 1996 | 1999 | GPL | The map sources were also released under the GPL in 2006. | |
Rebol | 1997 | 2012 | Apache license 2.0 | Following the discussion with Lawrence Rosen,[24] the Rebol version 3 interpreter was released under the Apache 2.0 license on 12/12/2012.[25] | |
Rise of the Triad | 1994 | 2002 | GPL | Only the code was released under the GPL. | |
Ryzom | 2004 | 2010 | AGPL | [26][27] | |
Second Life client | 2003 | 2007 | GPL v2 | ||
SimCity | 1989 | 2007 | GPL v3 | Free version released as 'Micropolis' [28] | |
Solaris | 1989 | 2005 | CDDL | Free version released as OpenSolaris | |
Source Code Control System | 1972 | 2006 | CDDL | ||
StarOffice | 1986 | 2000 | LGPL/SISSL[29] | Free version released as OpenOffice.org, later released only under the LGPL. (OpenOffice.org was discontinued in 2011, but forks—most prominently LibreOffice (licensed under the LGPL) and Apache OpenOffice (licensed under the Apache License)—have become its dominant successors.) StarOffice was still released separately under a proprietary license, using mostly the same code, until its discontinuing in 2011; Sun required all contributors to the main OpenOffice.org project assign joint copyright to Sun. | |
Symbian platform | 2010 | EPL | |||
Synfig | 2001 | 2005 | GPL | Some more information is available on the Synfig history page. | |
Tesseract OCR | 1985 | 2005 | Apache License 2.0 | Released as free and open-source software by HP and UNLV | |
TextSecure | 2010 | 2011 | GPLv3 | Since renamed to Signal | |
Torque 3D | 2001 | 2012 | MIT License | Developed for Tribes 2. Released as free and open-source software by Dynamix | |
TurboCASH | 1985 | 2003 | GPL | ||
Warzone 2100 | 1999 | 2004 | GPL | Video game by Eidos Interactive | |
Watcom C compiler | 1988 | 2003 | Sybase Open Watcom Public License | Free version released as Open Watcom under a license which is considered non-free by the GNU project[30] but acceptable by the OSI. | |
XMind | 2007 | 2008 | EPL and LGPL | Mindmapping software based on the Eclipse RCP |
See also
- List of free software packages
- List of free software for Web 2.0 services
- History of free software
- List of commercial software with available source code
- List of commercial video games with later released source code
References
- ↑ http://slashdot.org/story/99/07/09/0232220/aolserver-open-sourced
- ↑ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/07/google-releases-wave-protocol-implementation-source-code/
- ↑ https://github.com/blog/1831-atom-free-and-open-source-for-everyone
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTcxMjM
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://news.slashdot.org/story/00/01/31/0848243/cmu-sphinx-open-sourced
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20000422225905/http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=5494
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://tech.slashdot.org/story/07/01/02/209227/mysql-falcon-storage-engine-open-sourced
- ↑ Free Download Manager » Blog Archive » FDM 2.5 is released!
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20081202180622/http://www.sgi.com/company_info/newsroom/press_releases/2008/september/opengl.html
- ↑ http://jaikido.blogspot.de/2009/03/jaikuengine-is-now-open-source.html
- ↑ open.itworld.com - JAVAONE: Sun - The bulk of Java is open sourced
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Linksys WRT54G and the GPL on lkml (7 Jun 2003)
- ↑ The Open Source WRT54G Story By Aaron Weiss (November 08, 2005)
- ↑ Linksys Releases GPLed Code for WRT54G on slashdot (July 2003)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Watcom on gnu.org