We^* make jambonz, a communication platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) designed for use by service providers.

We also make drachtio, a programmable SIP server. drachtio is one of the main open source components that is used in jambonz.

We release both jambonz and drachtio under the MIT License.

^*We = Drachtio Communications Services, LLC.

A few words might be in order on why we chose the MIT License, because we notice that sometimes consumers of "free as in beer" FOSS seem to picture the software providers as some sort of austere sect of itinerant, karma-seeking monks who have taken a vow of poverty and wander the open source landscape doing saintly good deeds here and there - like providing free support, or adding any old feature that anyone thinks up, at any time, at no charge.

And sometimes, the fact that software is provided at no cost seems to result in a sense on the part of the consumer (not all mind you, but some) that it must accordingly have little or no value.

First of all, as big consumers of beer, we resent the implication that free beer has no value. That's just wrong.

More seriously, companies choose different open source licenses because they have different business models. We chose the MIT license - arguably the most permissive open-source license - because we are focused on encouraging trials, usage and adoption, and we wanted to remove as many barriers as possible that could stand in the way of that goal.

We believe that jambonz fills a void in the market by delivering a true service provider-focused CPaaS. There is a need for it. But we acknowledge that we are competing in an arena with well-heeled commercial vendors. In this environment, delivering our solution in open-source format - as unrestricted as we could make it - is a purely tactical business decision. We are after a faster pace of play - an increased tempo of create / find / fix / create / repeat. We are playing catch-up (as every startup has to, at the outset) but we are looking to establish a rate of product improvement that closed-source commercial vendors can not match.

The fuel that drives that product improvement tempo is contributions from the user base - unleashed of any licensing concerns or restrictions and with their imaginations fired by their ability to innovate freely on our platform. The MIT license is our way of enabling you to help us. Together, we can win.