Lsos projects are free for:
You can use Lsos projects without activation key if you work:
Larger companies get an activation key by filling an online formular and activate Lsos projects with the command $ lsos activate <activation-key>
.
For small companies and small projects, Lsos projects are free. For larger companies, an Lsos project costs between 1$ and 40$ per month.
Fees apply during development only. If you develop a software for 3 months and deploy it during 10 years, you pay for 3 months only. If you need to write a quick patch at a later point, you can purchase an activation key that is valid only for a couple of days.
Yes, the source code of Lsos projects is MIT licensed. Anyone can fork the code, remove the Lsos, and turn the project into a standard MIT-licensed project without Lsos.
From a legal perspective, yes you can. However, we take measures against those who we know are circumventing the fee.
Yes, anyone can fork and contribute to an Lsos project (just like any other MIT licensed project). No activation key is required to contribute.
Yes, you can choose:
By default, the Lsos library is set to enforce mode: when a larger company is missing an activation key, the Lsos library prevents the larger company from using your code.
With trust mode, the Lsos library never blocks larger companies from using your code. Instead, a pesky popup is occasionally shown in development reminding them to purchase an activation key.
Sublime Text, for example, is using such business model which has been successful for its dev team.
The goal of enforce mode is to increase conversion rate. Let's for example imagine following rates:
Even if we do a poor job with the enforce mode and achieve a rate of only 10%, the Lsos still increases your conversion rate by two orders of magnitude.
We believe there are more effective ways to enforce larger companies to pay. We did develop a license clause to be added to the MIT license but we use it seldomly, see How does enforce mode work?.
Yes, simply remove the Lsos library from your code.
No, the Lsos library is tiny and has no dependencies (runtime is ~100 LOC and postinstall script is ~1k LOC). The verification of the activation key is done offline by using asymmetric encryption.
The MIT License explicitly allows selling code:
Permission is hereby granted [...] the rights to [...] sell copies of the Software.
We take between 0% and 3%, depending on the project.
The Lsos library verifies that companies have a valid activation key: if the key is missing the library logs a warning in the developer console, and if the company persists in not getting an activation key then the library throws an error that blocks the usage of your code.
An activation key is not required if:
2.
means that individuals and small projects don't need any activation key; the Lsos doesn't add any friction for them and they can use your project just like before. Exempt 1.
means that anyone can develop and contribute to your project without any additional friction, just like before.Companies get an activation key by filling a short online formular. Small companies and nonprofits get a free activation key while larger companies pay to get an activation key.
$ lsos activate <activation-key>
command.