This note describes how technology is used and offered within the ecosystem. It does not represent a commercial unit of .org or replace each project's licenses and contracts. .org uses technologies developed by independent projects; it does not manufacture, resell or broker their products.
Licenses and Components
- An Open Educational Foundation: The teaching platform offered by a participating project has an open-source core that schools, institutions and communities can use and adapt under the license declared by the project. Its essential workflows do not depend on purchasing commercial extensions. The openness of this platform does not determine the licenses of other engines and tools in the ecosystem.
- Independent Extensions: Each provider may develop additional modules and adapters, open or proprietary, with their own terms of use and distribution. Commercial extensions can expand automation, integration and institutional operations without changing the meaning of public protocols or removing functionality from the open foundation. Proprietary components are not part of projects' free code; when connected to it, their interfaces allow replacement and do not make access to shareable project artifacts and data dependent on them.
- Identified Rights: Code, content and data follow the licenses and permissions applicable to each artifact. Commercial use of open-source code follows the chosen license; making an extension available through a service does not incorporate it into the open distribution. License compatibility and the way modules are integrated must be checked before distribution.
- Production and Publication:
.orgmakes materials from its own activities openly available when it holds the necessary rights and there are no privacy barriers. Work created by participants retains its authorship and follows publication terms agreed with its rights holders; using a tool, open or proprietary, does not by itself transfer rights to that work to the provider or authorize automatic publication. Third-party materials incorporated into the work retain their own restrictions.
Use by .org and Offerings to Third Parties
- Provided Technology: Providers may make their platforms and extensions available or license them for use by
.org, including in the public experience. The terms of use must cover participants' access to the service when that is the agreed form of provision. A license to operate the service does not imply a right to sublicense, copy or redistribute the technology beyond its terms. When a public feature depends on a proprietary extension, its origin and availability are identified. Ending that feature's availability does not change the licenses of free components or rights holders' rights to the work produced. If the service records conversations and decisions, the terms of use must provide for retrieving history that can legitimately be exported, respecting participants' access rights and privacy. - Private Development and the Public Path: Providers may offer private research and teaching rooms under contracts with institutions or sponsor their use on
.org. These services add privacy, access control and coordination to the conversations and activities they manage, even when project files remain in external tools with their own permissions; they do not buy publication, favorable reviews or scientific recognition. Participation in open discussions and the release of preprints do not depend on purchasing a private room. Additional services can be purchased at any stage when useful, subject to authors' rights and relevant editorial policies. - Direct Sales: Companies developing products may offer educational institutions platforms, automation modules, integrations, hosting and support directly. The institution purchases technology and services from the provider without acquiring the identity of
.orgor joining its network. A private installation can operate without a connection to.org; any exchange of artifacts requires a specific decision and authorization. - Autonomy and Transparency: An institution's courses, artifacts and internal data do not become public because of a purchase. Relationships between providers and people affiliated with
.orgare disclosed and handled with attention to conflicts of interest. A product's presence in the public experience represents neither scientific endorsement nor a mandatory preference for third parties.