If software is licenced under a GPL license, can it be used without restriction in a corporate/commercial environment? The software that I am refering to is QGIS which provides this description:QGIS is a user friendly Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS) licensed under the GNU General Public License. QGIS is an official project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo)I am of the understanding that it can be used (that the software is still considered free and opensource), while others in my office think differently when it is used in a commercial/corporate environment. They believe that once the software is used in a commercial environment, it is no longer considered free and falls under a difference licence (they didn't actually specify a difference licence, but was rather what would they believe would occur). We are not selling the software, but rather use it for analysis.Would anyone be able to shed some light on the subject to help clear things up?
Can GPL licenced software be used in corporate environments?
gpl;commercial;software use
Software licensed with any GNU license can be used and even modified everywhere, including in a corporate environment, without any restrictions.However be aware that if you (or the company) ever make changes to the software and want to distribute it, it must be distributed with full source code, on the same license terms as the original software.Also if you make changes to the software and it is licensed using Affero license (eg. AGPL 3.0), and your company is providing web access to this software, then you'll also be required to publish full source code (including your changes).