On Tue, 2003-04-01 at 22:16, T. Ribbrock wrote: > On Tue, Apr 01, 2003 at 09:36:47PM -0800, Eric Brophy wrote: > [...] > > Maybe I missed something but I thought that Linux was "free". How can you > > boot-leg something with no price? Maybe I missed something. > > BZZZZZZT! Thanks for playing, better luck next time! ;-) > > The 'no price' thingy is the most common misconception around. Linux > (and other GPL software) is free as in 'free speach", i.e. you have > access to the code, the whole thing is open, etc. The GPL explicitly > says nothing about *money*!
And a bit of BZZZT to you as well ;) The GPL *does* mention money. It explicitly allows for GPL'd software to be sold. But "free speech" definitely implies that it can't be "bootlegged", even if it is sold otherwise. >From the GPL preamble: "[Y]ou have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish)" Besides, just to put this whole "bootleg" concept to rest, I expect the reason RH decided to make 9 available early to subscribers is two-fold: 1. Encourage people to get RHN (duh), but more importantly: 2. Reserve limited bandwidth so people who pay them can download it *faster* (not just sooner). I doubt *withholding* the release from everyone else really figured into it. Think about it. A one-week delay for the rest of the world is hardly going to push them into buying RHN. I don't recall you saying this, but a lot of other people seem to be implying it, so I felt it was worth mentioning. Apparently #2 didn't work out for them so well, though, from the reports we've had. Regards, -- Cliff Wells, Software Engineer Logiplex Corporation (www.logiplex.net) (503) 978-6726 x308 (800) 735-0555 x308 -- redhat-list mailing list unsubscribe mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list
