Occasionally, discussions erupt in various forums as to whether SUSE is free or not free. Two such examples were argued lately in Whatsup and Tapuz.
It looks like different people have different opinions as to how to define "free". Since I am not a lawyer, I usually turn to GNU to check whether a specific license if free or not. I would like to draw your attention to the SUSE entry in the following link: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html#GPLIncompatibleLicenses "The YaST License This is not a free software license. The license prohibits distribution for a fee, and that makes it impossible for the software to be included in the many CD-ROM free software collections that are sold by companies and by organizations such as the FSF. There may be another problem in section 2a, but a word seems to be missing there, so it is hard to be sure what meaning is really intended. " Please refer to the following section from the SUSE YAST license: http://www.suse.com/us/private/support/licenses/yast.html " It is forbidden to reproduce or distribute data carriers which have been reproduced without authorisation for payment without the prior written consent of SUSE LINUX AG or SUSE LINUX. Distribution of the YaST programme, its sources, whether amended or unamended in full or in part thereof, and the works derived thereof for a charge require the prior written consent of SUSE LINUX AG." So as far as I understand it, the SUSE distro is not free because it includes central components that are provided under a non-free license. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
