List of formerly proprietary software

This is a list of notable software packages which were published under a proprietary software license but later released as free software or open source software, or into the public domain.

In some cases, the company continues to publish proprietary releases alongside the non-proprietary version.

List of formerly proprietary and closed-source software
Title Original release Relicensed release New license Notes
Adobe Flex 2004 2007 MPL Since renamed to Apache Flex and changed to Apache License 2.0
AdvFS 1990s 2008 GPL v2 HP opened up AdvFS from Tru64 UNIX.
AOLserver 1999 GPL / modified MPL [1]
Apache Derby 1996 2004 Apache License 2.0 Relational database management system originally called Cloudscape; released as free and open-source software by IBM in 2004 and donated to the Apache Software Foundation
Apache Wave 2009 2009 Apache License Formerly Google Wave.[2]
Atom 2014 2014 MIT License [3]
BDS C Compiler 1979 2002 Public domain Released by author
Bitstream Vera (font) 2003 custom Through the efforts of Bitstream and the GNOME Foundation
Blender 1996 2003 GPL
Catacomb 1989 2014 GPL v2 [4]
Catacomb II 1991 2014 GPL v2 [4]
Catacomb Abyss 1992 2014 GPL v2 [4]
Catacomb Armageddon 1992 2014 GPL v2 [4]
Catacomb 3D 1991 2014 GPL v2 [4]
C*Base 1980s 2003 GPL
CDE 1993 2012 LGPL v2+ [5][6]
CMU Sphinx 2000 BSD [7][8]
CuneiForm 1993 2008 BSD Optical character recognition software
Coherent 1980 2015 3-clause BSD License [9]
Duke Nukem 3D 1996 2003 GPL Game code only, no data, no engine.
Doom engine 1993 1999 GPL Code only. Originally released under a restrictive license in 1997
Etherpad 2008 2009 Apache License 2.0 Open sourced after being purchased by Google
Falcon 2007 GPL [10]
FAR Manager 1996 2007 BSD Version 2.0 released as open source.
Fish Fillets 1998 2002 GPL
Free Download Manager (FDM) 2003 2007 GPL Free since version 2.5[11]
GEM 1985 1999 GPL Development continued as OpenGEM and FreeGEM.
Gentium (font) 2002 2005 OFL Through the efforts of SIL International
GLX 1990s 2008 SGI FreeB License [12]
HoverRace 1996 2006 BSD
Hovertank 3D 1991 2014 GPL v2 [4]
ILWIS 1988 2007 GPL Released as free and open-source software by ITC
id Tech 2 1997 2001 GPL
id Tech 3 1999 2005 GPL
id Tech 4 2004 2011 GPL The released version is the source code to Doom 3; source code to newer id Tech 4 games has yet to be released. Changes to the code had to be made to avoid use of the patented Carmack's Reverse.
JaikuEngine 2006 2009 Apache License 2.0 [13]
Java 1995 2006–2007 GPL On 13 November 2006, Sun Microsystems released much of Java as free software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). On 8 May 2007 Sun finished the process, making all of Java's core code free and open source, aside from a small portion of code to which Sun did not hold the copyright.[14]
Jumper 2.0 2007 2008 GPL Publicly announced on 29 September 2008,[15]
Korn shell 1982 2000 custom; now CPL
LightZone 2005 2012 3-clause BSD Company went out of business
Marathon 2: Durandal 1995 2000 GPL Only the code was released under the GPL. Now known as Aleph One
MegaZeux GPL Both the code and the world files and music files are made freely available.
MINIX 1987 2000 BSD
Motif 1980s 2012 LGPL v2+ [16]
Movable Type 2001 2007 GPL Weblog software
NetBeans 1997 2007 GPL, CDDL An integrated development environment (IDE) for Java and other programming languages
Netscape Enterprise Server 2009 BSD Sun Microsystems open sourced it.[17]
Netscape Navigator/Communicator 1994 1998 MPL See Mozilla[18][19]
OpenGL sample implementation 1992 2008 SGI FreeB License [12]
Open Sound System 1992 2007 GPL, CDDL
OpenWRT ? 2003 GPL As Linksys built the firmware for their WRT54G wireless router also from GPL'ed code,[20] they were required to make the source code available in July 2003.[21][22]
Performance Co-Pilot 1993 1999 GPL, LGPL
Qt 1991 1999 QPL First released as open source under the QPL. Later released as GPL. Qt 4.5 and later are released under the LGPL. Until 2005 the Windows version was only under proprietary license.
Quake engine 1996 1999 GPL The map sources were also released under the GPL in 2006.
Rebol 1997 2012 Apache license 2.0 Following the discussion with Lawrence Rosen,[23] the Rebol version 3 interpreter was released under the Apache 2.0 license on 12/12/2012.[24]
Rise of the Triad 1994 2002 GPL Only the code was released under the GPL.
Ryzom 2004 2010 AGPL [25][26]
Second Life client 2003 2007 GPL v2
SimCity 1989 2007 GPL v3 Free version released as 'Micropolis' [27]
Solaris 1989 2005 CDDL Free version released as OpenSolaris
Source Code Control System 1972 2006 CDDL
StarOffice 1986 2000 LGPL/SISSL[28] Free version released as OpenOffice.org, later released only under the LGPL. (OpenOffice.org was discontinued in 2011, but forks—most prominently LibreOffice (licensed under the LGPL) and Apache OpenOffice (licensed under the Apache License)—have become its dominant successors.) StarOffice was still released separately under a proprietary license, using mostly the same code, until its discontinuing in 2011; Sun required all contributors to the main OpenOffice.org project assign joint copyright to Sun.
Symbian platform 2010 EPL
Synfig 2001 2005 GPL Some more information is available on the Synfig history page.
Tesseract OCR 1985 2005 Apache License 2.0 Released as free and open-source software by HP and UNLV
Torque 3D 2001 2012 MIT License Developed for Tribes 2. Released as free and open-source software by Dynamix
TurboCASH 1985 2003 GPL
Warzone 2100 1999 2004 GPL Video game by Eidos Interactive
Watcom C compiler 1988 2003 Sybase Open Watcom Public License Free version released as Open Watcom under a license which is considered non-free by the GNU project[29] but acceptable by the OSI.
XMind 2007 2008 EPL and LGPL Mindmapping software based on the Eclipse RCP

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://slashdot.org/story/99/07/09/0232220/aolserver-open-sourced
  2. ↑ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/07/google-releases-wave-protocol-implementation-source-code/
  3. ↑ https://github.com/blog/1831-atom-free-and-open-source-for-everyone
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTcxMjM
  5. ↑ Thom Holwerda. "CDE released as open source". OSNews. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  6. ↑ Dave Lounsbury. "How the Operating System Got Graphical". The Open Group. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  7. ↑ http://news.slashdot.org/story/00/01/31/0848243/cmu-sphinx-open-sourced
  8. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20000422225905/http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=5494
  9. ↑ "Coherent UNIX clone goes Open Source". OSNews. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  10. ↑ http://tech.slashdot.org/story/07/01/02/209227/mysql-falcon-storage-engine-open-sourced
  11. ↑ Free Download Manager » Blog Archive » FDM 2.5 is released!
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20081202180622/http://www.sgi.com/company_info/newsroom/press_releases/2008/september/opengl.html
  13. ↑ http://jaikido.blogspot.de/2009/03/jaikuengine-is-now-open-source.html
  14. ↑ open.itworld.com - JAVAONE: Sun - The bulk of Java is open sourced
  15. ↑ NEWS-Jumper_Networks_Releases_Jumper_2.0_Platform.pdf "Jumper Networks Press Release for Jumper 2.0". Jumper Networks, Inc. 29 September 2008.
  16. ↑ "ICS MotifZone". October 2012. Retrieved October 2012.
  17. ↑ jyri virkki (2009-01-13). "Announcing Open Source Web Server". sun.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-09. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  18. ↑ "NETSCAPE ANNOUNCES PLANS TO MAKE NEXT-GENERATION COMMUNICATOR SOURCE CODE AVAILABLE FREE ON THE NET". Netscape Communications Corporation. January 22, 1998. Archived from the original on April 4, 2007. Retrieved August 8, 2013. BOLD MOVE TO HARNESS CREATIVE POWER OF THOUSANDS OF INTERNET DEVELOPERS; COMPANY MAKES NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR AND COMMUNICATOR 4.0 IMMEDIATELY FREE FOR ALL USERS, SEEDING MARKET FOR ENTERPRISE AND NETCENTER BUSINESSES
  19. ↑ "MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Netscape Communications and open source developers are celebrating the first anniversary, March 31, 1999, of the release of Netscape's browser source code to mozilla.org". Netscape Communications. March 31, 1999. Retrieved January 10, 2013. [...]The organization that manages open source developers working on the next generation of Netscape's browser and communication software. This event marked a historical milestone for the Internet as Netscape became the first major commercial software company to open its source code, a trend that has since been followed by several other corporations. Since the code was first published on the Internet, thousands of individuals and organizations have downloaded it and made hundreds of contributions to the software. Mozilla.org is now celebrating this one-year anniversary with a party Thursday night in San Francisco.
  20. ↑ Linksys WRT54G and the GPL on lkml (7 Jun 2003)
  21. ↑ The Open Source WRT54G Story By Aaron Weiss (November 08, 2005)
  22. ↑ Linksys Releases GPLed Code for WRT54G on slashdot (July 2003)
  23. ↑ "REBOL to become open source". Rebol.com. 2012-09-25. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
  24. ↑ Sassenrath, Carl (2012-12-12). "Comments on: R3 Source Code Released!". rebol.com. Retrieved 2014-08-14. You probably thought the source release would never happen? Am I right? Well, it's there now in github at github.com/rebol/rebol.
  25. ↑ https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/ryzom-free-software
  26. ↑ http://lwn.net/Articles/386551/
  27. ↑ "Micropolis Downloads". Donhopkins.com. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  28. ↑ Proffitt, Brian (October 13, 2000). "StarOffice Code Released in Largest Open Source Project". linuxtoday.com. Retrieved January 10, 2013. Sun's joint effort with CollabNet kicked into high gear on the OpenOffice Web site at 5 a.m. PST this morning with the release of much of the source code for the upcoming 6.0 version of StarOffice. According to Sun, this release of 9 million lines of code under GPL is the beginning of the largest open source software project ever.
  29. ↑ Watcom on gnu.org