[Bldg-sim] EnergyPlus Licensing Changes

[Yi Zhang]

Woo-hoo! This means I can start selling my Amazon machine image, now! For five quid you can have your personal cloud for E+ simulations within 20 minutes. Any takers?
 
If you want to know what I am talking about, check out this demonstration: http://youtu.be/3m6gJUhZe9A
 
Yi
 
Dr Yi Zhang
IESD, De Montfort University, United Kingdom

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From: bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org on behalf of Linda Lawrie
Sent: Sun 22/01/2012 15:59
To: bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: [Bldg-sim] EnergyPlus Licensing Changes


EnergyPlus Licensing has changed.

Please see the full description at:
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/energyplus_licensing.cfm

An excerpt from the website:

EnergyPlus(tm) licenses are intended to encourage the use, improvement, and widespread adoption of EnergyPlus. Following is information about the licensing framework for EnergyPlus versions starting at 7.0, which differs from previous versions in three major ways: 

*	No fee executable distribution license. There are no fees for use or distribution of EnergyPlus in executable form. You may use the EnergyPlus executable (either the standalone application or the library), combine it with other programs, and redistribute it (as either a desktop application or a web application), for any purpose (commercial or otherwise) free of charge. Use of this license requires that you refer to the specific EnergyPlus version as "EnergyPlus vX." 
*	Open source license. For the first time, EnergyPlus is available under an open source license. Under this license, which is modeled after the Mozilla Public License (MPL) V1.1, you may obtain EnergyPlus source code, modify it, combine it with other software that is licensed under different terms, distribute it, and re-license it. The license is "weak copyleft" in that it covers only EnergyPlus and its modifications going forward. Code that is combined with EnergyPlus is not affected. This license requires that you distribute the source code for EnergyPlus modifications and that you refer to the EnergyPlus component of your distribution as "a modified version of EnergyPlus vX." You may remove the "modified" designation by obtaining prior written permission from Berkeley Lab. As with any open source license, there is no fee. 
*	Less restrictive commercial source license. The revised commercial source distribution license has been relaxed to permit sub-licensing of proprietary modifications to EnergyPlus. Under this license, you may obtain EnergyPlus source code, modify it, combine it with other software that is licensed under different terms, distribute it, and re-license it. Unlike the open source license, you are not required to make your modified EnergyPlus source code available; you retain exclusive control over these modifications. You are still required to refer to your copy of EnergyPlus as "modified." In the new licensing framework, this is the only license that requires a fee: $10,000 US for the first licensed version and $3,000 for major version updates. Very few scenarios should require this license; the open source license should suit most purposes. The fee attached to this license is intended to encourage use of the open source license, while providing additional rights in cases where they may be needed. 


Bug fixes, maintenance releases, and minor version releases of EnergyPlus will be made available to existing EnergyPlus licensees at no additional charge on an "if and when available" basis. Obtaining a future major version release of EnergyPlus will require a new license. The licensing scheme and fee schedule is subject to change for future versions.

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