Enterprise applications Toolkit

Story: Open-source CRM firm marches into Europe

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Not Open Source

the SugarCRM Public License (SPL) is not mentioned on the site of the OSI [www.opensource.org] which is the keepsake of all true open source licenses. This is because of the - Exhibit B - clause.

Because of the strange legal construction and attribution required, this kind of licensing is usually called badgeware ..

see for yourselves at the end of the license text, [http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/SPL]. Exhibit B

To be approved by OSI you must admit your license to public scrutiny.

So, I am not commenting on te quality of the product here which might be fine. However the term 'open source' is really not appropriate!.

The Open Source Definition spells out the essential qualities of open source software. Unfortunately, the term "open source" itself is subject to misuse, and because it's descriptive, it can't be protected as a trademark (which would have been our first choice). Since the community needs a reliable way of knowing whether a piece of software really is open source, OSI is registering a certification mark, OSI Certified, for this purpose.

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