Nonproprietary Software

What Does Nonproprietary Software Mean?

Nonproprietary software is software that has no patent or copyright conditions associated with it. Nonproprietary software is publicly available software that can be freely installed and used. It also provides complete access to its source code.

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Nonproprietary software can also be called as open-source software.

Techopedia Explains Nonproprietary Software

Nonproprietary software is any software that has no legal implications surrounding its use. Typically, nonproprietary software is free to use, although a fee may be appplied for commercial use. It is distributed under GNU General Public License (GPL), giving end-users/organizations the liberty to copy, share and edit the software.

Most nonproprietary software is open source, which means that the end-user/organization can review and edit the source code and customize it according to their requirements.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…