Open Source License
A first in the Wi-Fi industry, Boingo now offers its Wi-Fi authentication middleware architecture, Boingo Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit, as an open source project on SourceForge.net. Boingo will make the code available under OSI-approved licenses through a project on SourceForge.net without any fees or other licensing costs.
Please see the illustration below for a summary of the open source licensing requirements for the Boingo Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit.
Click on the image to view a closeup
This option provides developers with a risk-free opportunity to review and integrate this code onto any type of Wi-Fi handset, PDA, or device. The only restriction is that functional changes to the Boingo Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit must be republished. In this manner, Boingo ensures that the entire community can take advantage of improvements to the code immediately, encouraging adoption and removing barriers to adoption for independent as well as corporate developers.
For more information, please visit the boingowifitool project on SourceForge.net.
Boingo quickly realized that a single existing open source license could not simultaneously preserve the flexibility of modification for the Application and Platform Abstraction Layers while ensuring that enhancements to the Boingo Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit would remain in the public domain. As such, Boingo uses one license for the Application and Platform Abstraction Layers (Apache 2.0) and a second license for the Boingo Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit (Lesser General Public License or LGPL). It is important to note that the Apache 2.0 license permits the licensee to use the Application and Platform Abstraction Layer code without any requirement for republication. Please refer to the FAQ for more information regarding the differences between these two licenses.
In this manner, Boingo ensures that the entire community can take advantage of improvements to the core functionality of this architecture, encouraging wide use in the industry and removing barriers to adoption for both independent as well as corporate developers. |
