Licenses

This document describes Open Source, Encrypted code and Licenses issues.
Created: Dec 2, 2010
Updated Jun 12, 2012

Terminology

Open code or Open Source –  open source is a software that  is free,  mostly developed by a community. Open source codes are always available for a modification by programmers.
Many people mistakenly refer to the ability to modify the source codes using the words “open code” or “open source code”. This is not a correct usage, as one can modify the software without it being “open code”, for this one merely needs that the source codes would not be encrypted.

Encrypted – encryption makes the programming codes unreadable by the programmers, thus rendering the modification of the code impossible

Not encrypted – codes that are not encrypted can be modified. They do not become “open source” as they are protected by the license and agreement between Microbid Software and a buyer.

Microbid Penny Auction Software

The penny auction software that we sell is by default partly encrypted :

• Some PHP Files of the auction frontend encrypted  - ONLY BIDDING ENGINE.
  (It’s done to prevent setting up the site on another domain. If you need to change domain name in place of the one you had purchased with (for example, the company had changed the name) we’ll issue another license  with no cost.)
• PHP Files of the auction backend – fully open.
• All design elements, HTML files of the auction are not encrypted – you can modify colors, CSS, JS, HTML and add more elements to HTML

If you buy the Source Code License,  you can modify all   remaining the parts of the code.  It will be very rare situation that you really need it for practical purpose. Mostly, it’s done for legal reasons.  The price of the license is different for Standard and Enterprise version. You can see current pricing here

Please note that Source Code License doesn’t grant you the following rights:

You cannot resell this software, making more than the amount of copies you own

You cannot install this software on multiple servers, for this you need to buy “Additional Server License”

Licenses

By default the version of the penny auction software you’ve bought is for running one auction web site, on one domain, in one language, in one currency – and on one computer (server). Any deviation from this list would be a breach of the license agreement between you and Microbid Software. If you need more languages, currencies and domains, or you need to run the software on multiple computers you need to buy additional licenses. We allow buying additional licenses for discounted prices.

Running Multilingual or Multicurrency website

If you run multi-lingual or multi-currency website, where more then language or more then one currency is working on the same database, then you do not need additional license, you only need to buy additional language, or additional currency for each language and the currency you want your website to work with.  Even if you are running the site on different domains, it’s still considered one software. So you can run www.mycoolnicepenny.us in USA and www.coolnicepenny.cn in China, using the same license as long as they are running on the same database (the same list of users, auctions, etc)

If you want to run www.mycoolnicepenny.us in USA and www.coolnicepenny.cn in China, (even if they are equal websites) on different databases  - in this case you do need to buy a separate license

Running Software on  Multiple Servers

Due to the high load created by auction websites on the servers,  it’s common that there are several frontend servers using the same database. In this case you need to buy a special “Additional Server” license for each server the software is running on.

Additional Server license is available only for Enterprise version of the software. You can see current pricing here