Novell/progeny to take up redhat legacy services

[Eric Rostetter]

Quoting Chuck Wolber <chuckw at quantumlinux.com>:

> > We stay legal.
>
> Legal shmegal!! I think you've been brainwashed by the proprietary
> software storm troopers.

No, instead you were brainwashed by the everything in life is free and legal
storm troopers.

> The software is GPL'd,

Not all of it.

> 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.

This only applies to the source code that is open source.

> *REMEMBER* The GPL was created *SPECIFICALLY* to prevent anyone from
> taking someone's rights away.

Including Red Hat's rights.

> If the original developer wrote the code
> under the GPL, then you get the same rights RedHat got.

To the sources at least.

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

No, but it seems you *think* you found a way around the law.

> 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.

For oepn source code in source form at least.

> You have to remember that in buying RHEL 2.1/3.0/etc you are paying for a
> service, *not the code*.

No, you are indeed paying for the code along with the service.  And any
reasonable media costs, etc.  But you are not paying for the source code.

> 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.

And please make sure you are not acting illegally out of a misconception of
what GPL covers.

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

No, they have not.  In fact, they have stated the opposite.  Not all of it
is GPL'd.  And some of it is subject to copyright and trademark law.

What they stated was that they will always provide access to all their
source code.  They never said it was all open sourced or GPL'd.

--
Eric Rostetter