Novell/progeny to take up redhat legacy services

[Chuck Wolber]

> We stay legal.

Legal shmegal!! I think you've been brainwashed by the proprietary
software storm troopers. The software is GPL'd, Redhat cannot take your
rights to redistribute away from you. Once you have *1* copy of the code,
you can do whatever you want with it and there's not a darn thing RedHat
can do to you.

*REMEMBER* The GPL was created *SPECIFICALLY* to prevent anyone from
taking someone's rights away. If the original developer wrote the code
under the GPL, then you get the same rights RedHat got.


> Because we don't violate licenses or contracts, subscribing one of our
> boxes at $349 for ES2.1 and distributing to the remainder isn't an
> option.

Huh? How's that. Did RedHat suddenly find a way to get around the GPL? If 
so, please enlighten me...

The fact of the matter is that you have the same rights to the code that 
RedHat has. That's the beauty of the GPL.


You have to remember that in buying RHEL 2.1/3.0/etc you are paying for a
service, *not the code*. You are paying for the update service which then
supports all of the stability work that RedHat puts into the code. It is
simply not legal for RedHat to hold your rights to this update service
over your head. If you pay for it, you should get it. If you choose to
redistribute the fruits of this service, you have every right to do so 
(only the GPL'd parts that is(*)).


Knowing all of that, if you still choose to pay RedHat the full ticket
price, I commend you! RedHat deserves every penny of it. Just make sure 
that you are paying for the right reasons.


-Chuck

(*) RedHat has publically stated more than once that *ALL* of their code 
has been and always will be open sourced ( specifically GPL'd).


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