Introducing eZ Publish Now and eZ Publish Premium

Let me address the concerns that some of you might have when you hear about our commercial solutions and wonder whether we have turned proprietary.

We are as much Open Source as we have always been. To say it in the words of the FSF's Free Software Definition:

"Free software" does not mean non-commercial. A free program 
must be available for commercial use, commercial development, 
and commercial distribution. Commercial development of free 
software is no longer unusual; such free commercial software 
is very important.

As a company, we are of course commercial, needing to make money, and that's why we offer free commercial software. The code base of the two business solutions, eZ Publish Now and eZ Publish Premium, is the same as in the GPL-licensed eZ Publish. The only difference is that we sell eZ Publish Now and eZ Publish Premium (with services) while the eZ Publish software is only available for download (for do-it-yourself customers).

We are happy to make code Open Source that has been developed especially for business solutions and to include this code in our Open Source software distribution. For example, the freely available eZ Publish 3.9 release includes (under the GPL license) the new easy-to-use front-end initially developed for eZ Publish Now. We have even gone one step further to finish the process of making all our software Open Source. After having open-sourced the eZ Online Editor, we will soon release the eZ Database Extension, including the Oracle connector as well as the Paynet Gateway, under the GPL. At that time, all of our software will be Open Source.

Dual licensing and proprietary use

We believe in freedom of choice. Therefore, eZ Publish has a dual license model that gives you options. You can choose between the eZ Proprietary Use License (eZPUL) and the GPL (the Open Source license you get with the free download). The eZPUL is a simple and traditional license for small to large enterprises who desire non-GPL licensing. It is a traditional for-pay, proprietary license for an end user of eZ Publish.

If you're Open Source, eZ Publish is Open Source; if you're commercial, eZ Publish is commercial. As long as you contribute back to the community by using our software according to its Open Source license, you don't pay for the software. Should you wish to protect your code in a proprietary manner, then you need to pay. The money we get from you will help us to further develop our Open Source software.