Here at LM, we love open source software (OSS). We use it every day - and probably could not have built LM Framework without it.

The open source philosophy reflects the same principles which have driven the accumulation of knowledge throughout history, with each subsequent person digesting, reformulating and improving the ideas of his or her predecessors.

However, open source software has one problem - it's hard to earn a living from it.

Currently, open source companies earn revenues mainly from a combination of selling support and personalization services, or selling closed-source embellishments to their products. The former doesn't scale very well and the latter is like financing a peace march from the sale of arms.

So we decided to try and develop a new licensing model for OSS which would be based on software usage, and fully reflect the contribution of each developer to a given project.

The result is the P-BOS (pro-bono open source) licensing system, which permits developers to set a usage-based fee for their software. The fee can vary based on the user's status. For example, it can be free for non-commercial users.

The developer can specify what percentage (0-100%) of their revenues should go to a non-profit fund associated with the licensing system.

We believe that P-BOS effectively combines the efficiency and quality of open-source software development with the revenue generation possibilities of closed-source software.

Further details regarding P-BOS are available on request.