List of liberated software - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This is a list of notable software

Computer software

Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....

packages which were published under a proprietary software license but later released as free

Free software

Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

and open source software.

In some cases, the company continues to publish proprietary, binary-only releases alongside the free and open source version.

List of formerly proprietary and closed-source software
Title	Original release	Relicensed release	New license	Notes
Adobe Flex Adobe Flex Adobe Flex is a software development kit released by Adobe Systems for the development and deployment of cross-platform rich Internet applications based on the Adobe Flash platform...	2004	2007	MPL Mozilla Public License The Mozilla Public License is a free and open source software license. Version 1.0 was developed by Mitchell Baker when she worked as a lawyer at Netscape Communications Corporation and version 1.1 at the Mozilla Foundation...
AdvFS AdvFS AdvFS, also known as Tru64 UNIX Advanced File System, is a file system developed in the late 1980s to mid 1990s by Digital Equipment Corporation for their OSF/1 version of the Unix operating system...	1990s	June 2008	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project.... v2	HP opened up AdvFS from Tru64 UNIX.
Apache Derby Apache Derby Apache Derby is a relational database management system developed by the Apache Software Foundation that can be embedded in Java programs and used for online transaction processing. It has a 2 MB disk-space footprint.Apache Derby is developed as an open source project under the Apache 2.0 license...	1996	August 2004	Apache License Apache License The Apache License is a copyfree free software license authored by the Apache Software Foundation . The Apache License requires preservation of the copyright notice and disclaimer.... 2.0	Relational database management system Relational database management system A relational database management system is a database management system that is based on the relational model as introduced by E. F. Codd. Most popular databases currently in use are based on the relational database model.... originally called Cloudscape; released as free and open-source software by IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... in 2004 and donated to the Apache Software Foundation Apache Software Foundation The Apache Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation to support Apache software projects, including the Apache HTTP Server. The ASF was formed from the Apache Group and incorporated in Delaware, U.S., in June 1999.The Apache Software Foundation is a decentralized community of developers...
Hexxagon	1992	Unknown	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	Previously shareware Shareware The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a... , now in Linux distribution Linux distribution A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications... s
BDS C Compiler BDS C BDS C is a compiler for a sizeable subset of the C programming language, that ran on and generated code for the Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 processors. It was written by and first released in 1979 when he was 20 years old...	1979	2002	Public domain Public domain Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...	Released by author
Bitstream Vera Bitstream Vera Vera is a group typeface with a liberal license.It was designed by Jim Lyles from Bitstream, and it is closely based on Bitstream's Prima, for which Lyles was also responsible. It is a TrueType font with full hinting instructions, which improve its rendering quality on low-resolution devices such... (font)	Unknown	2003	custom	Through the efforts of Bitstream and the GNOME Foundation GNOME Foundation The GNOME Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, coordinating the efforts in the GNOME project.-Purpose:...
Blender Blender (software) Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications or video games. The current release version is 2.60, and was released on October 19, 2011...	1996	2003	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
C*Base	1980s	2003	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
CuneiForm CuneiForm (software) In computer software, CuneiForm is an OCR tool. It was originally developed at Cognitive Technologies and, after a few years with no development, released as freeware on December 12, 2007. The kernel of OCR engine was released under the open source BSD license license at the beginning of April...	1993	2008	BSD BSD licenses BSD licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses. The original license was used for the Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix-like operating system after which it is named....	Optical character recognition Optical character recognition Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping... software
Duke Nukem 3D Duke Nukem 3D Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 3D Realms and published by GT Interactive Software. The full version was released for the PC . It is a sequel to the platform games Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II published by Apogee...	1996	2003	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	Game code only, no data, no engine.
Doom engine Doom engine The Doom engine is the game engine that powers the id Software games Doom and Doom II. It is also used by HeXen, Heretic, Strife, Freedoom, and HacX, and other games produced by licensees. It was created by John Carmack, with auxiliary functions written by Mike Abrash, John Romero, Dave Taylor and...	1993	1999	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	Code only. Originally released under a restrictive license in 1997
Fish Fillets Fish Fillets NG Fish Fillets NG is a puzzle game. The goal in each level is to find a safe way out for both of the two fish. It's comparable to other sliding puzzle games such as sokoban and klotski. In Fish Fillets the play is complicated by a few additional elements and rules...	1998	2002	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
Free Download Manager Free Download Manager Free Download Manager is a free open source graphical download manager for the Microsoft Windows operating system.FDM was previously proprietary software, but with the release of version 2.5 it has been open source. Starting with version 3.0.850 , source code is no longer provided as a packaged... (FDM)	2003	August 2007	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	Free since version 2.5
GEM Graphical Environment Manager GEM was a windowing system created by Digital Research, Inc. for use with the CP/M operating system on the Intel 8088 and Motorola 68000 microprocessors...	February 1985	April 1999	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	Development continued as OpenGEM OpenGEM OpenGEM is a distribution combining components of the original Digital Research's GEM and the later FreeGEM version of a graphical user interface for DOS... and FreeGEM FreeGEM FreeGEM is a windowing system based on Digital Research's GEM which was first released in 1985. GEM stands for "Graphical Environment Manager"... .
FAR Manager FAR Manager FAR Manager is an orthodox file manager for Microsoft Windows and a clone of Norton Commander...	October 1996	October 2007	BSD	Version 2.0 released as open source.
Gentium Gentium Gentium is a Unicode serif typeface designed by Victor Gaultney. Gentium fonts are free and open source software, and are released under the SIL Open Font License , which permits modification and redistribution. Gentium has wide support for languages using the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic alphabets,... (font)	2002	2005	OFL SIL Open Font License The SIL Open Font License is a free and open source license designed for fonts by SIL International for use with some of their Unicode fonts. The license is considered free by the Free Software Foundation, which states that a simple hello world program is enough to satisfy the license's requirement...	Through the efforts of SIL International
HoverRace HoverRace HoverRace is a game created by GrokkSoft in 1996 as shareware. GrokkSoft claimed it was the first internet-based online multiplayer game. The source code was released to the public in 2006 and HoverRace.com maintains a version which is still under active development.- Gameplay :HoverRace allows...	1996	2006	BSD
ILWIS ILWIS ILWIS is a GIS / Remote sensing software for both vector and raster processing. ILWIS features include digitizing, editing, analysis and display of data as well as production of quality maps...	1988	2007	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	Released as free and open-source software by ITC ITC Enschede The International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation was an institute of higher education located in Enschede, The Netherlands...
id Tech 2	1997	2001	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
id Tech 3	1999	2005	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
Java Java (programming language) Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...	1995	2006–2007	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	On 13 November 2006, Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... released much of Java as free software under the terms of the GNU General Public License GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project.... (GPL). 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 2.0 Jumper 2.0 Jumper 2.0, is an open source web application script for collaborative search and knowledge management powered by a shared enterprise bookmarking engine that is a fork of KnowledgebasePublisher[]. It was publicly announced on 29 September 2008,...	2007	2008	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	Publicly announced on 29 September 2008,
Korn shell Korn shell The Korn shell is a Unix shell which was developed by David Korn in the early 1980s and announced at USENIX on July 14, 1983. Other early contributors were AT&T Bell Labs developers Mike Veach, who wrote the emacs code, and Pat Sullivan, who wrote the vi code...	1982	2000	custom; now CPL Common Public License In computing, the CPL is a free software / open-source software license published by IBM. The Free Software Foundation and Open Source Initiative have approved the license terms of the CPL....
Marathon 2: Durandal Marathon (computer game) Marathon is a first-person shooter video game with a science fiction theme developed and published by Bungie released in December 1994 for the Apple Macintosh. The game was Bungie's second foray into the emerging genre of games with a first-person perspective, the first being Pathways into...	1995	2000	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	Only the code was released under the GPL. Now known as Aleph One
MINIX Minix MINIX is a Unix-like computer operating system based on a microkernel architecture created by Andrew S. Tanenbaum for educational purposes; MINIX also inspired the creation of the Linux kernel....	1987	2000	BSD
Movable Type Movable Type Movable Type is a weblog publishing system developed by the company Six Apart. It was publicly announced on September 3, 2001; version 1.0 was publicly released on October 8, 2001. On 12 December 2007, Movable Type was relicensed as free software under the GNU General Public License...	October 2001	December 2007	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	Weblog software Weblog software Weblog software is software designed to simplify the creation and maintenance of weblogs...
NetBeans NetBeans NetBeans refers to both a platform framework for Java desktop applications, and an integrated development environment for developing with Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Groovy, C, C++, Scala, Clojure, and others...	1997	October 2007	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project.... , CDDL	An integrated development environment Integrated development environment An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development... (IDE) for Java Java (programming language) Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities... and other programming language Programming language A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely.... s
Netscape Enterprise Server Netscape Enterprise Server Netscape Enterprise Server was a web server developed originally by Netscape Communications Corporation. The product has since been renamed Sun Java System Web Server, reflecting the product's acquisition by Sun Microsystems...		January 2009	BSD	Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... open sourced it.
Netscape Navigator Netscape Navigator Netscape Navigator was a proprietary web browser that was popular in the 1990s. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corporation and the dominant web browser in terms of usage share, although by 2002 its usage had almost disappeared... /Communicator Netscape Communicator Netscape Communicator was an Internet suite produced by Netscape Communications Corporation. Initially released in June 1997, Netscape Communicator 4.0 was the successor to Netscape Navigator 3.x and included more groupware features intended to appeal to enterprises.- Editions :Netscape...	1994	1998	MPL Mozilla Public License The Mozilla Public License is a free and open source software license. Version 1.0 was developed by Mitchell Baker when she worked as a lawyer at Netscape Communications Corporation and version 1.1 at the Mozilla Foundation...	See Mozilla Mozilla Mozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the Mozilla.org project and the Mozilla Foundation, their defunct commercial predecessor Netscape Communications Corporation, and their related application software....
Open Sound System Open Sound System The Open Sound System is an interface for making and capturing sound in Unix or Unix-like operating systems. It is based on standard Unix devices...	1992	2007	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project.... , CDDL
Performance Co-Pilot Performance Co-Pilot Performance Co-Pilot is an open source infrastructure for monitoring, visualizing, recording, responding to, and controlling the status, activity, and performance of networks, computers, applications, and servers.-Features:...	1993	December 1999	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project.... , LGPL GNU Lesser General Public License The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...
Qt Qt (toolkit) Qt is a cross-platform application framework that is widely used for developing application software with a graphical user interface , and also used for developing non-GUI programs such as command-line tools and consoles for servers...	1991	1999	QPL Q Public License The Q Public License is a non-copyleft license, created by Trolltech for its free edition of the Qt. It was used until Qt 3.0, as Trolltech toolkit version 4.0 was released under GPL version 2...	First 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 engine Quake engine The Quake engine is the game engine that was written to power 1996's Quake, written by id Software. It featured true 3D real-time rendering and is now licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License ....	1996	1999	GPL	The map sources were also released under the GPL in 2006.
Rise of the Triad Rise of the Triad Rise of the Triad: Dark War is a first-person shooter video game that was first released on February 17, 1995 and developed by Apogee Software . The members of the development team involved referred to themselves as "The Developers of Incredible Power"...	1994	2002	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	Only the code was released under the GPL.
Second Life Second Life Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars... client	2003	2007	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project.... v2
SimCity SimCity SimCity is a critically acclaimed city-building simulation video game, first released in 1989, and designed by Will Wright. SimCity was Maxis' first product, which has since been ported into various personal computers and game consoles, and spawned several sequels including SimCity 2000 in 1994,...	1989	2007	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project.... v3	Free version released as 'Micropolis Micropolis (software) Micropolis is a city-building sim game developed by Don Hopkins. It is based on the original source code of SimCity, which was donated to the One Laptop per Child project by Electronic Arts as free and open source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License in 2008.Micropolis is... ' http://www.donhopkins.com/home/micropolis/
Solaris	1989	2005	CDDL Common Development and Distribution License Common Development and Distribution License is a free software license, produced by Sun Microsystems, based on the Mozilla Public License , version 1.1....	Free version released as OpenSolaris OpenSolaris OpenSolaris was an open source computer operating system based on Solaris created by Sun Microsystems. It was also the name of the project initiated by Sun to build a developer and user community around the software...
StarOffice StarOffice StarOffice, known briefly as Oracle Open Office before its discontinuation in 2010, is a proprietary office suite. It was originally developed by StarDivision which was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1999...	1986	2000	LGPL/SISSL Sun Industry Standards Source License The Sun Industry Standards Source License is now a retired free and open source license, recognized as such by the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Initiative . Under SISSL, developers could modify and distribute source code and derived binaries freely. Furthermore, developers could...	Free version released as OpenOffice.org OpenOffice.org OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software... , now released only under the LGPL). StarOffice is still released separately under a proprietary license, using mostly the same code; Sun requires all contributors to the main OpenOffice.org project assign joint copyright to Sun.
Symbian platform	??	2010	EPL Eclipse Public License The Eclipse Public License is an open source software license used by the Eclipse Foundation for its software. It replaces the Common Public License and removes certain terms relating to litigations related to patents....
Synfig Synfig Synfig Studio is a free and open source 2D vector graphics and timeline-based computer animation program created by Robert Quattlebaum with additional contributions by Adrian Bentley....	2001	2005	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	Some more information is available on the Synfig Synfig Synfig Studio is a free and open source 2D vector graphics and timeline-based computer animation program created by Robert Quattlebaum with additional contributions by Adrian Bentley.... history page.
Tesseract OCR	1985	2005	Apache License Apache License The Apache License is a copyfree free software license authored by the Apache Software Foundation . The Apache License requires preservation of the copyright notice and disclaimer.... 2.0	Released as free and open-source software by HP Hewlett-Packard Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including... and UNLV University of Nevada, Las Vegas University of Nevada-Las Vegas is a public, coeducational university located in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada, USA. The campus is located approximately east of the Las Vegas Strip. The institution includes a Shadow Lane Campus, located just east of the University Medical Center of...
TurboCASH TurboCASH TurboCASH is a free software accounting software package, developed by a project team headed by , a South African. It has been continuously developed since April 1985, and was released under the GNU General Public License in July 2003....	April 1985	July 2003	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
Warzone 2100 Warzone 2100 Warzone 2100 is an open source real-time strategy and real-time tactics hybrid computer game, originally developed by Pumpkin Studios and published by Eidos Interactive...	March 1999	December 2004	GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....	Video game by Eidos Interactive Eidos Interactive Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
Watcom C compiler Watcom C compiler The Watcom C/C++ compiler is a compiler for the computer programming languages C and C++ that produces executable programs for several platforms and operating systems. The code it produces for MS-DOS executes very fast. It was one of the first compilers to support the Intel 80386 "protected mode"...	1988	2003	Sybase Open Watcom Public License Sybase Open Watcom Public License The Sybase Open Watcom Public Licence is an open source license that has been approved by the Open Source Initiative. It is the licence under which the Open Watcom C/C++ compiler is released....	Free version released as Open Watcom
XMind XMIND XMind is a brainstorming and mind mapping software tool developed by XMind Ltd. The program is intended to assist users in capturing ideas, organizing various charts, and share them with collaboration. It supports mind maps, Ishikawa diagrams , tree diagrams, organization charts, and spreadsheets...	2007	2008	EPL Eclipse Public License The Eclipse Public License is an open source software license used by the Eclipse Foundation for its software. It replaces the Common Public License and removes certain terms relating to litigations related to patents.... and LGPL	Mindmapping software based on the Eclipse RCP

See also