Is Centric CRM an Open Source Company?
May 15, 2007 Leave a comment
I have to agree with Stephe that Centric CRM is not Open Source. You need look no further than the first couple lines of their license to see this:
This Centric Public License is based on United States Copyright law, as defined by Title 17 of the United States Code.
In particular, our intent is that:
You may use, copy, modify, and make derivative works from the code for internal use only.
You may not redistribute the code, and you may not sublicense copies or derivatives of the code, either as software or as a service.
Now, you get the code which is nice and they are certainly more than free to pursue whatever business model they’d like. While I have never used the product, it might even be great software. But it’s not Open Source. I also wonder how the product made it into RHX, which has the stated goal:
Red Hat Exchange helps you compare, buy, and manage open source business applications. All in one place and backed by the open source leader. We’ve collaborated with our open source software partners to validate that RHX applications run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and are delivered through the Red Hat Network. At RHX, Red Hat provides customers with a single point of contact for support.
Now, it’s possible that I am missing something. Maybe an upcoming version of the product has a different license? If so, I was not able to find any indication of that on the site… but I’ll keep poking around.
–jeremy