Tuesday 11 Oct 2005 19:31 samaye Berni Elbourn alekhiit: > You may make and distribute unlimited copies of > the Software outside Your organization provided that: 1) You receive > no consideration; and, 2) you do not bundle or combine the Software > with another offering (e.g., software, hardware, or service). > > The main question for me as a service provider is to ask if I can > provide downloaded Suse to my customers as part of an installation or > support service?
Can you elucidate this? Do you run a computer service company which answers support calls and runs out to the customer's site and fixes their problem? You wish to convert your customers to SUSE Linux along the way? Now I am no lawyer, and certainly not Novell/SUSE's lawyer, but what exactly would "bundle or combine" mean? In my layperson viewpoint, the second clause is inserted to avoid a possible loophole in the first clause. The first clause only says that one must not receive consideration for giving someone a copy of SUSE Linux. Company XYZ says: "**Free** SUSE Linux along with our Annual Maintenance Contract". It contends that it is not receiving any consideration for the SUSE Linux part. But it is using SUSE Linux as a carrot attached to its AMC to lure customers in. IMHO this is what Novell is trying to prevent. You must neither sell copies of SUSE Linux for money, nor include SUSE Linux as a part of any package which you sell for money, **even if** the SUSE Linux part of the package is advertised as free. So unless we know the exact nature of your service and how SUSE Linux is connected with it, we cannot comment further on your situation, I am afraid. Shriramana. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
