The PHP Roundtable podcast has posted their latest episode, part two in a series looking at semantic versioning, open source support expectations and licensing. This new episode features guests Colin O'Dell and Chris Tankersly.

Part 2 of an on-going series on open source. We discuss a number of open source topics including what the expectations are for support of an open source project. We also discuss how to use SemVer to successfully maintain an open source package and what we can do when SemVer is not an option. And finally we take a look at licensing and discuss why we need to be concerned with it.

You can listen to this latest episode by checking out the video of the live recording, coming in at about 1 hour. If you enjoy the show, be sure to subscribe to their feed to get the latest updates on when new episodes are available.

When it comes to protecting your code, you definitely want to find the right product for your needs. Finding the information on all of the encoders out there can be a task in itself, though. Fortunately, EncoderCompare.com has been created to give you a quick and easy reference.

Whilst we would always recommend the use of the ionCube Encoder product to protect your PHP source code when distributing your product to customers and users, there are several other products available to choose from.

To help with this, we have launched a comparison website which lists the available encoders and compares their features. The feature set is standardised so that it is possible to compare like for like in a clear manner.

Currently, there's fifteen encoders listed with all of their stats - protection types, restrictions available, what OSes it has loaders for, the availability of licensing, and the pricing. There's links to get more specific information on each as well.

When it comes to protecting your code, you definitely want to find the right product for your needs. Finding the information on all of the encoders out there can be a task in itself, though. Fortunately, EncoderCompare.com has been created to give you a quick and easy reference.

Whilst we would always recommend the use of the ionCube Encoder product to protect your PHP source code when distributing your product to customers and users, there are several other products available to choose from.

To help with this, we have launched a comparison website which lists the available encoders and compares their features. The feature set is standardised so that it is possible to compare like for like in a clear manner.

Currently, there's fifteen encoders listed with all of their stats - protection types, restrictions available, what OSes it has loaders for, the availability of licensing, and the pricing. There's links to get more specific information on each as well.

Lukas Smith has a new post over on his blog with his take on the moves that Oracle has been taking with several Open Source companies out there (such as Sleepycat).

The topic at hand is Oracle buying one dual license open source company after another. This is getting a lot of people worried. Of course it also got me thinking.

Dual licensing is a business model associated with companies distributing their code under two very different licenses. However the same code is also provided through some open source license, usually one of the so called reciprocal licenses (GPL and friends).

That system is pretty nice on many levels. Everybody gets the code with the license they prefer. The dual licensing company benefits through a cheap open source style distribution model. However they can still make money with selling licenses which is a very lucrative business model, while they can also make money through support.

He continues, mentioning some of the serious flaws with this dual license model, including the inability for a company, at any time, to move to a more closed-source method of development. He even mentions a situation where a project could loose all developers.

And, in his words: So are we up for the challenge if we are faced with such an exodus?

Lukas Smith has a new post over on his blog with his take on the moves that Oracle has been taking with several Open Source companies out there (such as Sleepycat).

The topic at hand is Oracle buying one dual license open source company after another. This is getting a lot of people worried. Of course it also got me thinking.

Dual licensing is a business model associated with companies distributing their code under two very different licenses. However the same code is also provided through some open source license, usually one of the so called reciprocal licenses (GPL and friends).

That system is pretty nice on many levels. Everybody gets the code with the license they prefer. The dual licensing company benefits through a cheap open source style distribution model. However they can still make money with selling licenses which is a very lucrative business model, while they can also make money through support.

He continues, mentioning some of the serious flaws with this dual license model, including the inability for a company, at any time, to move to a more closed-source method of development. He even mentions a situation where a project could loose all developers.

And, in his words: So are we up for the challenge if we are faced with such an exodus?