Best of Licensing — October 2024

1. 1
   Article

   JetBrains·2y

   WebStorm and Rider Are Now Free for Non-Commercial Use

   JetBrains announced that WebStorm and Rider are now free for non-commercial use, including activities like learning, open-source project development, content creation, and hobby development. This initiative aims to make JetBrains IDEs more accessible and lower the barrier for non-commercial developers. Existing commercial licenses remain unchanged, and users can enjoy a full-featured IDE under the new non-commercial license type, with the only limitation being a different version of the 'Code With Me' feature. Anonymous usage statistics will be collected to help improve the products.

   241

   12
2. 2
   Article

   David Heinemeier Hansson·2y

   Automattic is doing open source dirty

   Automattic is demanding 8% of WP Engine's revenues, which is seen as a violation of open source principles and the GPL license. This move has potential negative implications for the broader open source community. The GPL license usually includes provisions for no warranty and sometimes requires modifications to be open source, but it does not support arbitrary financial demands. The expectation of financial contributions without clear legal backing undermines the clarity and certainty of open source licenses.

   74
3. 3
   Article

   xkcd·2y

   xkcd: Ravioli-Shaped Objects

   The post discusses the licensing terms for xkcd comics, which are shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License, allowing copying and sharing but not selling.

   52

   1
4. 4
   Article

   xkcd·2y

   xkcd: RNAWorld

   xkcd: RNAWorld is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License, allowing free copying and sharing of the comics, but prohibiting commercial use.

   22