Template:wikipedia list This is a list of notable software packages which were published under a proprietary software license but later released as free and open source software.
In some cases, the company continues to publish proprietary, binary-only releases alongside the free and open source version.
| Title | Original release | Relicensed release | New license | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Flex | 2004 | 2007 | MPL | |
| AdvFS | 1990s | June 2008 | GPL v2 | HP opened up AdvFS from Tru64 UNIX. |
| Apache Derby | 1996 | August 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 |
| Hexxagon | Unknown | Unknown | GPL | Previously shareware, now in Linux distributions |
| BDS C Compiler | 1979 | 2002 | Public domain | Released by author |
| Bitstream Vera (font) | Unknown |
2003 |
custom | Through the efforts of Bitstream and the GNOME Foundation |
| Blender | 1996 | 2003 | GPL | |
| C*Base | 1980s | 2003 | GPL | |
| CuneiForm | 1993 | 2008 | BSD | Optical character recognition software |
| 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 |
| Fish Fillets | 1998 | 2002 | GPL | |
| Free Download Manager (FDM) | 2003 | August 2007 | GPL | Free since version 2.5 |
| GEM | February 1985 | April 1999 | GPL | Development continued as OpenGEM and FreeGEM. |
| FAR Manager | October 1996 | October 2007 | BSD | Version 2.0 released as open source. |
| Gentium (font) | 2002 | 2005 | OFL | Through the efforts of SIL International |
| HoverRace | 1996 | 2006 | BSD | |
| 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 | |
| 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. |
| Jumper 2.0 | 2007 | 2008 | GPL | Publicly announced on 29 September 2008, |
| Korn shell | 1982 | 2000 | custom; now CPL | |
| Marathon 2: Durandal | 1995 | 2000 | GPL | Now known as Aleph One |
| MINIX | 1987 | 2000 | BSD | |
| Movable Type | October 2001 | December 2007 | GPL | Weblog software |
| NetBeans | 1997 | October 2007 | GPL, CDDL | An integrated development environment (IDE) for Java and other programming languages |
| Netscape Enterprise Server | January 2009 | BSD | Sun Microsystems open sourced it. | |
| Netscape Navigator/Communicator | 1994 | 1998 | MPL | See Mozilla |
| Open Sound System | 1992 | 2007 | GPL, CDDL | |
| Performance Co-Pilot | 1993 | December 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 | |
| Quake II | 1997 | 2001 | GPL | |
| Quake III Arena | 1999 | 2005 | GPL | |
| Rise of the Triad | 1994 | 2002 | GPL | |
| Second Life client | 2003 | 2007 | GPL v2 | |
| SimCity | 1989 | 2007 | GPL v3 | Free version released as 'Micropolis' [1] |
| Solaris | 1989 | 2005 | CDDL | Free version released as OpenSolaris |
| StarOffice | 1986 | 2000 | LGPL/SISSL | Free version released as OpenOffice.org, now released only under the LGPL). StarOffice is still released separately under a proprietary license, using mostly the same code; Sun requires all contributors to the main OpenOffice.org project assign joint copyright to Sun. |
| 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 |
| TurboCASH | April 1985 | July 2003 | GPL | |
| Warzone 2100 | March 1999 | December 2004 | GPL | Video game by Eidos Interactive |
| Watcom C compiler | 1988 | 2003 | Sybase Open Watcom Public License | Free version released as Open Watcom |
See also[]
- List of free software packages
- List of open source software packages
- History of free software