Dimdim’s mission is to become the leading provider of open source web meeting software. Dimdim strives to be an open and transparent company, with source code, product roadmaps and simple technical documentation freely available online. We also listen closely to the needs of the open source community and are actively improving our product based on their feedback.


Dimdim Expands Base With Move to GPL

Dimdim Inc., the first and leading provider of free and open source web meeting solution, today announced that it will offer its next release under the GNU Public License (GPL).

Dimdim is a browser-based web 2.0 service that allows anybody to share their desktop, show slides, as well as talk, listen, chat, and broadcast via webcam. Dimdim's hosted service is available for free and can be easily used for small gatherings, to seminars with hundreds of attendees.

With absolutely no software to download for attendees, Dimdim gives everyone the opportunity to hold web meetings and to customize and brand these meetings. Dimdim is a rich internet application (RIA) that includes advanced collaboration features (browser-based audio conferencing, broadcast webcam, slides, desktop sharing, etc.) so that anyone and everyone can easily and instantly interact, without the hassle of having to download and maintain software. Dimdim has integrated open source software applications with its own open source software. Dimdim integrates, among other technologies, the world's most popular software for course management, used by universities, schools, companies and independent teachers around the world. Dimdim also utilizes Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud, providing Dimdim users with the same sophisticated and scalable infrastructure used by Amazon.com. Purely via word-of-mouth amongst the open source community, Dimdim has already been downloaded more than 120,000 times.

Adopting the GPL allows Dimdim to provide customers with community-supported software while proprietary companies continue to charge millions of dollars for similar but far less flexible and supportable applications.

"Moving Dimdim under the GPL was an easy decision for us because our customers wanted Dimdim under GPL," said DD Ganguly, CEO, Dimdim Inc. "Dimdim’s mission is to democratize web meetings and the move to GPL is a conscious step in this path.”

Dimdim provides its software under a number of flexible licenses, designed to meet the particular requirements of different types of customers:

-- For Open Source Projects: If customers are developing and distributing open source software under the GPL they are free to use Dimdim under the GPL License. If they are developing and distributing open source software under an OSI-Approved License, but not the GPL, and want to link Dimdim's GPL software with theirs, Dimdim provides the GPL License with a FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open-Source Software) Exception.

-- For Commercial OEMs, ISVs and VARs: For OEMs, ISVs, and VARs who distribute Dimdim with their proprietary products, and do not wish to license and distribute their source code under the GPL, Dimdim provides a flexible OEM Commercial License.

-- For Enterprises, Government Organizations, Small- to Medium-sized Businesses: Dimdim licenses Dimdim Enterprise under a Commercial License to paid subscribers, similar to how MySQL, Red Hat, and other leading open source companies license their technology. Those wishing to use Dimdim for free under the GPL are able to download Dimdim community edition.

The re-licensing will not affect community users' rights in code they have accepted under the modified MPL prior to October 2007. However, if community customers download an update from Dimdim after the October 2007 release of Dimdim community edition, the update will be covered by the GPL plus FLOSS exception. The Dimdim FLOSS Exception enables software provided under existing OSI-approved open source licenses to incorporate the Dimdim community edition software without having to license the entire software package under the terms of the GPL. The license change does not affect Dimdim Enterprise customers or use of any software customers received from Dimdim prior to October 2007 release of Dimdim.

About Dimdim, Inc.
Dimdim is the world's free, open source, web meeting company. Dimdim is backed by the original investors in Skype, Hotmail, and MySQL. Dimdim's global investors include: Nexus India Capital, Index Ventures and Draper Richards. Dimdim is based in Boston, Mass., with offices in Canada, and India. For more information, visit http://www.Dimdim.com.

Media Contacts:
Kathy Johnson
Dimdim@consortpartners.com
Consort Partners
http://www.consortpartners.com

(Inspired by Alfresco's move to GPL : http://www.alfresco.com/legal/licensing/)