Guides/Roadmap
Elba's open-source transition: the roadmap to 2030
Elba's source has been visible from day one, but its licence is proprietary until 1 January 2030 — at which point it becomes MIT. This page is the plain-language roadmap for that transition.
Before 2030
The source is inside the HTML file. You can read it, audit it, and run it forever. You may not re-license or redistribute it. Updates ship on a slow, careful cadence.
After 2030
The source is MIT-licensed. Anyone can fork, ship, and modify. The domain and the ‘Elba’ name stay with the makers; the code belongs to everyone.
Questions people actually ask
- Will you keep maintaining it after 2030?
- That's the plan, funded by voluntary contributions and any final year of sales. But the point of mortalware is that maintenance no longer depends on us.
- Do earlier buyers get anything special?
- Yes — every past buyer keeps their paid copy and receives all updates up to and beyond 2030.
Take the island
Elba is one HTML file. It runs locally in a Chromium browser, seals a folder with AES-256-GCM, never phones home, and becomes open source on 1 January 2030.
- €49MMXXVI· now ·
- €39MMXXVII2027
- €29MMXXVIII2028
- €19MMXXIX2029
- FreeMMXXX2030
the price falls each year · free to all 1 jan 2030
pay once · no account · nothing leavesRelated guides
- Mortalware: software with a written expiry on secrecy
Mortalware is software that becomes open source on a fixed date. Elba is priced to decline and free in 2030. Here's the idea and why it matters.
- Why encryption software should be open source, eventually
Closed-source encryption is a promise you can't verify. Elba is source-visible today and becomes MIT open source on 1 January 2030.