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Open Source Software (OSS) is a licensing mechanism that saves businesses and consumers approximately $60 billion per year. The software is often used in collaboration with information distributed to the public. In most instances OSS is available in source code form. Individuals are allowed to established copyrights and distribute software when OSS is used in such form. Distributing terms and conditions must be understood and observed when administering licenses.
An administered license must be free from discrimination. A license that is biased towards a corporation or group of people is illegal. OSS technology was not created to encourage discrimination and does not condone in prejudice software licensing. In addition, individuals and corporations licensing software must refrain from preventing endeavors. A license may not restrict an individual from using a program for business or research purposes. While plagiarizing copyrighted material is illegal, users have the right to tailor programs to fit personal and corporate needs; a license disclosure should not restrict this right.
Once established, licenses must be capable of execution. License disclosures that require additional documents to be executable is a poor agreement that does not abide by OSS guidelines. An agreement should focus on one software program at a time. Generalized disclosures used for several programs do not cover all bases of software and may prove problematic when details concerning a license are sought. License disclosures should not promote OSS by insisting that other programs of the same caliber be licensed through the software. All agreements should allow for program modifications.
