Licence and Source Code

The management application is accessed through the browser in order to enable itself as a online service; moreover, it is distributed under the Affero GPL open source licence so that everyone who comes in contact with the application may have access to it.

This way, there is no risk of monopolising the service. This is what gives GAS groups who aren't otherwise linked to the service provider the hope of striking a balance between equitable cost management and sharing of profit with the same status for those who develop free software.

Free software does not mean free because even software developers have the right to avail of fair compensation; in doing so, it is possible to speak of a sustainable economy for all parties involved.

We must find methods to support those who offer services. The Italian market for GAS is indeed very broad, but also varied and regionalised. Free software is indeed available but there were made because there was the need to experiment with new solutions to respond to new regulations, as well as to improve them, exploiting past experience.

"Free software" (provincial law of Promotion and Development of Companies and Firms for the Solidarity Economy: the denomination of "free software" appears in this law) means, in this context:

• "activities of production and exchanges as well as the promotion of a said programme with open source code that allows anyone to modify and study it".

The ability to use and modify this software requires competence (for instance: in order to plant a seed and make it grow, one needs to know agriculture well).

More information on the licence can be found on the Affero web site.