License Simplification

All,

On 2 September 2005 Sun Microsystems announced that it was retiring  
the Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL), an Open Source  
Initiative (OSI)-approved software license.  In recent weeks, the  
OSI, which authorises open-source licenses, has been discussing  
limiting license proliferation, so as to make the process of choosing  
a license easier for developers and companies.  Sun's move is in  
support of that objective.

How does this move affect OpenOffice.org? As most know,  
OpenOffice.org code was launched under the dual banner of the SISSL  
and LGPL; licensees could choose which one they wanted to use, and  
nearly all have chosen the LGPL.  Effective with the announcement  
that Sun is retiring the SISSL, however, OpenOffice.org will in the  
future only be licensed under the LGPL.

For users, the simplification means: no change.  OpenOffice.org  
remains free to use, distribute, even sell.  One can freely use it in  
commercial as well as government environments; nothing has changed.

For vendors, distributors, add-on and plug-in writers of  
OpenOffice.org:  The LGPL allows for commercial distribution without  
affecting derived products in the same way as the GPL.

For developers and other contributors:  As the code will be licensed  
only under the LGPL, modifications to the source must be published.   
(The SISSL did not require all changes to the source to be  
published.)  As most OpenOffice.org contributors are already openly  
contributing to the community, we anticipate no problems.  And for  
those who have been using the SISSL exclusively, we invite you to  
join us.

The OpenOffice.org Community Council

http://council.openoffice.org
http://www.openoffice.org/FAQs/license-change.html