[H-GEN] Kernel source

Jason Parker-Burlingham jasonp at panix.com
Sun Oct 26 21:50:04 EST 2003


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"Rick Phillips" <rickp at suntech.net.au> writes:

[Harry wrote]
>> So you only get the source if you pay for the powerpack? How did they
>> get around the GPL? It was my understanding that you had to
>> supply the
>> source as well as the binary.
>
> I don't know about that Harry but what you and I have got is pre-release
> stuff.  Mandrake has a whole swag of iterations with this release -
> Discovery Pack, Desktop Pack. Power Pack, Pro Pack, OEM Pack, Enterprise
> Edition and more.  They have been polling their customers to find out what
> is wanted and these different packs are the result.  You will probably find
> that the different packs have a greater or lesser degree of availability of
> source code because, lets face it, 95% of all users just want to install and
> go.  It's only people like us who want to play.

That doesn't conform to the spirit or letter of the GPL.

> The general rule of thumb is that, the higher the pack (and the more
> you pay), the more you get.

And this is *definitely* running contrary to the entire point of a
copyleft license.  If I want to pay through the nose to get access to
the source code of my product, I know where to find a copy of Windows
XP.

> I think the Linux community is going to have get used to the fact
> that some time in the future, money will have to be parted with.

Very few people have a problem with that.  Even the Free Software
Foundation sells copies of its software---over a grand US for some
products---on its website.

> Linux is no longer a toy and a lot of organisations spend a lot of
> time making this stuff more useable and more feature rich are going
> to have to charge "filthy lucre" to stay in business.  One would
> hope that it will always be affordable and be able to be used freely
> within a business or a home.

That's the slippery end of the slope.

Boo to Mandrake.  They use Red Hat's package format to produce a
product on the backs of the developers who put in all the work to
actually *write* the applications they're now selling, without giving
their purchasers the same rights they used to create their product.
For shame!

> Evidence Red Hat straying away from the unprofitable Desktop Edition,
> Xandros is not free, Lindows is not free, Lycoris is not free, SuSE is not
> free but Mandrake is one of the remaining "big ones" which is still offering
> a free download.  Their General Manager told me that they are not prepared
> to change this YET.  

No one is asking for this product to be given away.  People are asking
for the source code, which is not at all the same.

> ** Queensland Agent for Mandrake & Xandros Linux **

Who should I complain to about this?
-- 
Baby Pictures:
      http://panix.com/~jasonp?HenryGrosvenorParkerBurlingham

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