Bots is Open Source software
What is Open Source?
Open Source software is free software. Bots is free as in speech and as in beer. This means that the user's rights are of chief concern: the right to use, copy, distribute, study, change and improve upon the software. Mozilla Firefox, OpenOffice, and Linux are examples of successful Open Source projects.Bots uses GNU General Public Licence (GPL)
In practice, this means that if you distribute Bots (or a modified version of Bots, or software based on Bots), you can only do so under the same GPL licence. This is to protect the user's rights, by guaranteeing that Bots remains Open Source software.You are explicitly not forbidden to distribute Bots, or software based on Bots, for a fee.
But how about support?
Commercial support is available from the same company that designed and built Bots: EbbersConsult. EbbersConsult will be glad to help you with:- Installing and setting up Bots.
- Connecting your system to the EDI systems of your trading partners.
- Introducing EDI in your organisation.
- Customising Bots for your organisation specifically.
- Helpdesk support.
So, what's the catch?
There is none. You yourself can download Bots, install it, try it, configure it, customise it, distribute it, etc. Users can exchange configurations, grammars, modifications, etcetera, so you don't pay for customisations that are already available. You are explicitly encouraged to add your own contributions on the website.Problems with Open Source?
If the Open Source software licence poses a problem for you - e.g. if you wish to distribute a modified version of Bots, but do not wish your modifications to become Open Source software themselves (and, hence, to be visible to anybody) - you can obtain Bots under a different licence from EbbersConsult.More information about Open Source software
- Wikipedia on Open Source
- the Open Source Initiative
- the complete text of the GNU General Public Licence