QNX Software Systems is going open source -- sort of. More specifically, QNX is opening access to the source code of its QNX Neutrino real-time operating system (OS) under a new hybrid software licensing arrangement. The first source release includes the code to the QNX Neutrino microkernel, the base C library, and a variety of board support packages (BSPs) for popular embedded and computing hardware.

Access to QNX source code is free; source code can be downloaded from Foundry27.com effective September 12, 2007. Commercial deployments of QNX Neutrino runtime components still require royalties, and commercial developers will continue to pay for QNX Momentics development seats. However, noncommercial developers, academic faculty members, and qualified partners will be given access to QNX development tools and runtime products at no charge.

"With its new transparent development process, source code program, and development tool access plan, QNX is the vanguard of change in the world of commercial software development and deployment," said Dan Dodge, chief executive officer of QNX Software Systems. "Both commercial and hobbyist developers will have unprecedented access to the 'crown jewels' of our software as the base for creating the next great computing innovation."

Community members will also have the ability to participate in the QNX development process, similar to projects in the open source world. Software designers at QNX will publish development plans, post builds and bug fixes, and provide moderated support to the development process. They will also collaborate with customers and the QNX community, using public forums, wikis, and source code repositories.

Upon completing the free registration, users identify which of three different software licenses is appropriate to their interests and gain immediate access to copies of most QNX software, as well as to source code for many of these components.