On Fri, Jan 11, 2002 at 05:13:11PM -0600, Adam Majer wrote: > On Fri, Jan 11, 2002 at 12:13:55AM -0500, Alec wrote: > > Joris, you want to switch to a proprietary platform just to get your > > scanner > > to work?! I understand that Lindows will cost $99 (I'm not sure what they > > are > > going to do about GPL in their code) Firstly, Lindows is likely to be > > killed > > They _have_ to release their code free if they are selling their > program... AFAiK, there is no problem if they sell GPL program > but they have to allow access to source free.
But which GPL programs will they be using? If it's a Linux distribution that imitates Windows XXXX, then it probably just contains the kernel, X and Wine. Of course, the kernel is GPL'd, but I doubt they would need to make any modifications to it. X and Wine are under BSD-ish licenses, so modifications to them do not have to be released at all (witness the commercial X servers and Transgamings proprietary WineX). > > IMHO, if they don't, Free Software Foundation should sue them for > breaking the license - heck, using the stupid Millinium Copyright > Act!!! :-0 That would be nice for a change. The FSF can only get involved in cases where they have copyright; i.e. GNU software. > > BUT, on their site it says: > > " > Lindows.com Licensing Information > > Lindows.com respects all applicable licensing and is proud to be > a strong supporter of the Open Source community by helping to > advance several Open Source initiatives. Coming soon to this page > will be information, links and resources for obtaining source > code and licensing information for any applicable software. " Again, only for copylefted software, BSD-ish stuff can stay proprietary. -rob
pgpOAkJRw3Q9z.pgp
Description: PGP signature
