Fixing Zed's license agreement
April 5th, 2023
Last month, we launched the Zed beta with a license agreement containing terms that were overly broad, confusing, and that did not accurately reflect our intentions around user data and privacy. The bottom line: When you're using Zed, your data never leaves your machine without your consent, and what data you do share is treated with respect. That's always been the case, but our new license makes that clear in legal terms.
The previous agreement was the result of poor communication with our legal team, which we had previously only worked with to handle investment-related matters. The unique nature of our product as both a standalone desktop application and a network-based service added to the confusion, and in our urgency to share Zed with the world, we allowed this confusion to be passed on to our users. For that we apologize.
Following the launch, we got feedback from the community rightly pointing out serious problems with the first license. We immediately engaged with new counsel to help us craft a license that's simpler, clearer, and a better reflection of our original intent. The new license is in effect as of version 0.80.5, released today. We hope you'll bear with us as we learn and improve.