I guess what I was after was the restrictions that would apply to copying a Red
Hat CD. As I mentioned earlier, I don't think they're getting rich off their
package sales so I'd be loath to diminish in any way their ability to make money
from what they do. On the one hand these distributions make the installation and
use of Linux very convenient but on the other hand new versions come out very
frequently.
In fact I find that there is so much variance in the target hardware that
sometimes I need to try 3 or more distributions before I can get a mostly
functional Linux OS installed on a particular machine. I've bought at least 3
different distributions from Red Hat in the past and will continue to do that
periodically. One thing I've never done though is called their support line or
even so much as sent them an email. I can almost always work through the
problems I run into but as you might have seen from my recent post recounting my
experiences trying to install on a new laptop, I sometimes throw in the towel on
a specific machine. Then after waiting a while for Linux distros to catch up to
my hardware, I take another crack at it. Laptops seem to be the most difficult
systems to configure properly under Linux. BTW, I've certainly spent plenty of
time attempting to install Windows and that often doesn't go perfectly either
;^).
-Alex
P.S. One potential advantage of the Debian distribution is that Debian is very
strict about not packaging commercial applications on their CDs.
Wirth's Law: Software gets slower faster than Hardware gets faster!
"On the side of the software box, in the 'System Requirements' section, it
said 'Requires Windows 95 or better'. So I installed Linux." - Anonymous
On Fri, 22 Jun 2001, Benjamin Scott wrote:
> On Fri, 22 Jun 2001, Alex Hewitt USG wrote:
> > I would avoid copying Red Hat's CD because I honestly can't say that it
> > would be completely legal. Either that or visit Red Hat's web page where
> > they provide a link to a downloadable copy ...
>
> Have you read the copyright notices on the downloadable copy? They are
> there. Thousands of them, in fact. One in every package, plus a few in
> general distribution README files and the like.
>
> And, as Jeff Smith points out, you automatically have a copyright on any
> copyrightable work you do. You do not have to explicitly declare such. I own
> the copyright on the message you are reading right now. Of course, by posting
> it to a public mailing list, one could make the legal argument that I am
> implicitly placing it in the public domain.
>
> > I find it odd that they put a copyright notice on their CDs and then give
> > a link to the .iso image files.
>
> Microsoft provides links to all sorts of files on their websites. Most of
> them are provided under very restrictive copyrights and licenses.
>
> Just because something is linked to on the Internet does not mean you have
> the legal right to copy, redistribute, or use it.
>
> As I've said before: Legal trouble is the worst kind.
>
> --
> Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> | The opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do not |
> | necessarily represent the views or policy of any other person, entity or |
> | organization. All information is provided without warranty of any kind. |
>
>
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