Here\'s my situation: I\'m starting a small computer repair business on the side
ID: 660052 • Letter: H
Question
Here's my situation: I'm starting a small computer repair business on the side. I'll be making house calls in my neighborhood but in the future I'd like to provide remote support. I was thinking of a VNC-based solution but I don't know if it would be practical to use an existing one or not. I was tossing around the idea of writing a custom VNC-based remote support solution. It would have all my own wording and logos so it would seem much more professional I think.
First, how difficult would something like that be? I have a little coding experience and I usually just learn new things out of necessity, like in this case.
Also, since I'd be basing my software off of open source and using it for profit, would that be allowed? Would I have to release the source?
Thanks.
Explanation / Answer
First: I am not a lawyer. If you're serious, you should see an intellectual property specialist and get their comment.
Second: Let's assume for the moment that you're thinking of using TightVNC.
Let's have a look at their licensing:
The Default Option: GNU GPL
TightVNC is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License (usually referred to as GPL). This is the primary type of licensing, you do not have to pay for it or enter into any special agreement. Just download the software and use it for any legally allowed purposes, including commercial use. Also, you may redistribute verbatim copies of the software with no limitations (unless such distribution is restricted by local or international laws). You even may modify the software and distribute its modified copies, provided that all your modifications are GPL-licensed as well.
So, you could use it commercially, but you would have to make the source code freely available.
Of course, any branding on your version would not be covered by this (I believe, IANAL) so trademarks or copyright you own on that would not have to be released.