> I would have another question regarding USBDOS' license: what about > manufacturers that sell computers with FreeDOS preinstalled to avoid > the Windows tax? For instance in the Middle-East, many local > manufacturers do that, and even big names like HP because the > Windows license fee isn't negligible in local currencies and > licenses like GNU GPL allow it.
> Can they include USBDOS? Yes, that would be OK. They are essentially selling the hardware and throwing in FreeDOS for no charge (what they are actually doing is far more complicated than that, but close enough). The "test" I had for compatibility with the license would be if the software could be distributed from my web site (I won't actually do it, but I'm pretty sure FreeDOS wouldn't have a problem with it if I did). It's kind of similar to what would happen if somebody manufactured a USB device of some sort and wrote a DOS driver compatible with USBDOS for the USB device (which I don't think any hardware manufacturer will ever do). As long as they distributed the driver and documentation freely and provided the source code to whoever wanted it, the fact that you are paying for the hardware does not necessarily mean you are paying for the software. It does get a little convoluted, though, since some of the costs built into the hardware are the costs associated with software development and testing and maintenance, but that is different than distribution and use of the software. _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
