Pitfalls and Traps #6
Licensed and Proprietary Software
The devil is in the details. Be sure to ask your web designer how much of the site (if any) is licensed under them and if any of it is proprietary.
Pitfalls and Traps #6
Licensed software means your site or parts of it are leased by another entity for use. Proprietary software could mean your site (excluding your content) is owned by another entity which could mean your stuck with doing business with that entity if you were wanting to make changes and tweaks and only through them. This could turn out to be a very expensive endeavor if you wish to make changes down the road. Beware who has hold of the rights and who can make altercations for what price. Also shop around, if there is software you want to use that is licensed, see if there are others licensed out there for price comparison. There are plenty of legit reasons to use licensed software or proprietary software but make sure you know what you are getting into first. A contract would not hurt to spell out what is yours and what is theirs. If you are still unsure, check out "Open Source" licensing. What is "Open Source"?
