List of formerly proprietary software


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, or into the public domain.
In some cases, the company continues to publish proprietary releases alongside the non-proprietary version.
TitleOriginal releaseRelicensed releaseInitial free relicenseNotes
Adobe Flex20042007MPLSince renamed to Apache Flex and changed to Apache License 2.0
AdvFS1990s2008GPL v2HP opened up AdvFS from Tru64 UNIX.
AOLserver1999GPL / modified MPL
Apache Derby19962004Apache License 2.0Relational database management system originally called Cloudscape; released as free and open-source software by IBM in 2004 and donated to the Apache Software Foundation
Apache Wave20092009Apache LicenseFormerly Google Wave.
Astrolog19912015GPL v2+ / custom permissiveHas always been freeware and open source, but had a custom attribution demanding permissive license.
Atom20142014MIT License
BDS C Compiler19792002Public domainReleased by author
BitKeeper20002016Apache License 2.0
Bitstream Vera 2003Through the efforts of Bitstream and the GNOME Foundation
Blender19962003GPL v2+
BlitzBASIC 20012014zlib licenseBlitzPlus was released as Open Source on 28 April 2014 under the zlib license on github.com. Blitz3D follow on 3 August 2014. BlitzMax was open sourced on 21 September 2015.
Catacomb19892014GPL v2
Catacomb II19912014GPL v2
Catacomb Abyss19922014GPL v2
Catacomb Armageddon19922014GPL v2
Catacomb 3D19912014GPL v2
C*Base1980s2003GPL v2+
CDE19932012LGPL v2+
ChakraCore20092016MITOn 13 January 2016 Microsoft released ChakraCore under the MIT license on GitHub. ChakraCore is essentially the same as the Chakra engine that powers the Microsoft Edge browser, but with platform-agnostic bindings, i.e. without the specific interfaces utilised within the Windows Universal App platform.
CMU Sphinx2000BSD
CodeXL2016MIT License
Coherent198020153-clause BSD License
CP/M family19741997, 2001, 2014
CuneiForm19932008BSDOptical character recognition software
Dink Smallwood19982003zlib-likeSome game data not released under a free license.
Doom engine19931999GPLCode only. Originally released under a restrictive license in 1997
DOS.MASTERend 1980s2000public domain softwareDOS.MASTER is a program for Apple II computers which allows Apple DOS 3.3 programs to be placed on a hard drive or 3.5-inch floppy disk and run from ProDOS. Written by Glen Bredon as a commercial program during the late 1980s, it was released into the public domain by his family after the author's death.
Duke Nukem 3D19962003GPLGame code only, no data, no engine.
Etherpad20082009Apache License 2.0Open sourced after being purchased by Google
Falcon2007GPL
FAR Manager19962007BSDVersion 2.0 released as open source.
File Manager 1990April 2018MITOn 6 April 2018, Microsoft released binaries and the source code, licensed under the MIT License, for an improved version of File Manager able to be run on Windows 10. This version included changes such as the ability to compile in modern versions of Visual Studio, the ability to compile as a 64-bit application, and numerous usability improvements.
Fish Fillets19982002GPL
Free Download Manager 20032007GPLFree since version 2.5
FoundationDB20132018Apache License 2.0Apple Inc. acquired the founding company in March 2015 and discontinued downloads of the software. In April 2018, Apple open-sourced the database and resumed downloads.
GGPO20062019MIT LicenseOn October 9th, 2019 Cannon announced on his Twitter account that GGPO was now open source and available under the MIT License.
Ghostery20102018Mozilla Public License 2.0Cliqz GmbH acquired Ghostery from Evidon, Inc. in February 2017. Ghostery's software was open-sourced on 8 March 2018.
GEM family19851999GPLDevelopment continued as OpenGEM and FreeGEM.
Gentium 20022005OFLThrough the efforts of SIL International
Gigablast20002013Apache License 2.0
Glitch20112013Public domain software After Glitch was officially shut down on 9 December 2012, the artwork and most of the source code was released under the public domain-like Creative Commons license CC0 on 18 November 2013. On 9 December 2014, a fan project to relaunch Glitch under the name Eleven began alpha testing.
GLX1990s2008
HoverRace19962006BSD
Hovertank 3D19912014GPL v2
ILWIS19882007GPLReleased as free and open-source software by ITC
id Tech 219972001GPL
id Tech 319992005GPL
id Tech 420042011GPLThe released version is the source code to Doom 3; source code to newer id Tech 4 games has yet to be released. Changes to the code had to be made to avoid use of the patented Carmack's Reverse.
JaikuEngine20062009Apache License 2.0
Java19952006–2007GPLOn 13 November 2006, Sun Microsystems released much of Java as free software under the terms of the GNU General Public License. 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 2.020072008GPLPublicly announced on 29 September 2008,
Korn shell19822000custom; now CPL
LightZone200520123-clause BSDCompany went out of business
Marathon 2: Durandal19952000GPLOnly the code was released under the GPL. Now known as Aleph One
MiniPanzer and MegaPanzerGPLThe source code of the programs was released as GPL in 2009 by their author, who retained the copyright.
MINIX19872000BSD
Motif1980s2012LGPL v2+
Movable Type20012007GPLWeblog software
MP/M family19791997, 2001
.NET Framework 20022014MIT License, Apache license 2.0, BSD licenseStarting in 2014 Microsoft released most of their.NET ecosystem software under FOSS licenses and shifted the code to a GitHub repository.
NetBeans19972007GPL, CDDLAn integrated development environment for Java and other programming languages
Netscape Enterprise Server2009BSDSun Microsystems open sourced it.
Netscape Navigator/Communicator19941998MPLSee Mozilla
OpenGL sample implementation19922008
Open Sound System19922007GPL, CDDL
OpenWRT?2003GPLAs Linksys built the firmware for their WRT54G wireless router also from GPL'ed code, they were required to make the source code available in July 2003.
Performance Co-Pilot19931999GPL, LGPL
PowerShell2006August 2016MIT LicenseOpen sourced by Microsoft in August 2016 on GitHub.
Qt19911999QPLFirst 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 engine19961999GPLThe map sources were also released under the GPL in 2006.
RSD Game-Maker19912014MIT licenseAfter some consultation with the user base, on 12 July 2014 original coder Andy Stone released the Game-Maker 3.0 source code on GitHub, under the MIT license.
Rebol19972012Apache license 2.0Following the discussion with Lawrence Rosen, the Rebol version 3 interpreter was released under the Apache 2.0 license on 12 December 2012.
Rise of the Triad19942002GPLOnly the code was released under the GPL.
Ryzom20042010AGPL
Second Life client20032007GPL v2
SimCity19892007GPL v3Free version released as 'Micropolis'
Solaris19892005CDDLFree version released as OpenSolaris
Source Code Control System19722006CDDL
StarOffice19862000LGPL/SISSLFree version released as OpenOffice.org, later released only under the LGPL. and Apache OpenOffice StarOffice was still released separately under a proprietary license, using mostly the same code, until its discontinuing in 2011; Sun required all contributors to the main OpenOffice.org project assign joint copyright to Sun.
Star Ruler 220152018MIT / CC BY-NCSource code and assets re-released to the public. The assets are under non-free CC BY-NC license.
Symbian platform2010EPL
Synfig20012005GPLSome more information is available on the Synfig .
Tesseract OCR19852005Apache License 2.0Released as free and open-source software by HP and UNLV
TextSecure20102011GPLv3Since renamed to Signal
Torque 3D20012012MIT LicenseDeveloped for Tribes 2. Released as free and open-source software by Dynamix
TurboCASH19852003GPL
ViewMAX19901999GPL
Visual Studio Code20152015MIT
Warzone 210019992004GPLVideo game by Eidos Interactive
Watcom C compiler19882003Sybase Open Watcom Public LicenseFree version released as Open Watcom under a license which is considered non-free by the GNU project but acceptable by the OSI.
Windows Calculator19852019MIT LicenseWindows 1.0, released in November 1985, included the first iteration of Windows Calculator. In March 2019, Microsoft released the source code of Windows Calculator under the MIT License.
Windows Console2019MIT LicenseIn 2019, the Windows Console infrastructure was open-sourced under the MIT License, alongside Windows Terminal.
Windows Live Writer20122015MIT LicenseAn open source fork of Windows Live Writer was released as Open Live Writer by Microsoft on 9 December 2015.
Wire20142016GPLv3
XMind20072008EPL and LGPLMindmapping software based on the Eclipse RCP
ZFS200?2005CDDLReleased by Sun Microsystems under an open-source license in 2005. Due to a FSF announced license incompatibility of the GPL with the CDDL ZFS wasn't directly integrated in linux, but in the BSDs or MacOS due to their permissive licensed kernel which offers better license compatibility. After the later owner Oracle didn't released after version 28, the community forked to OpenZFS.