Bruce White wrote:
To Whom It May Concern:
I am a 4th grade elementary teacher. I would like to make some CDs of OpenOffice for my students to use at their home computers.
Is this permissable? Do I need to sign something or meet some other requirement?
I have a Master's Degree in Instructional Technology. I inform many people of the advantages of OpenOffice.
I would like to be able to hand OpenOffice out to my students with CDs supplied
by you, but I need to find out more details.
Thanks for a great product!
Sincerely,
Bruce White
Hi Bruce,
OpenOffice.org is free software. You can make copies of it and
distribute it to everybody in your environment. This is even encouraged.
The CDs don't need to be supplied by 'us'. We are just volunteers
answering people's questions. This our way to contribute back to the
project. You can just download the software, the dictionaries, the
manuals, clipart. Put it together on a CD-ROM and distribute as many
copies as you like. If you buy a CD-ROM from one of the distributors for
a nominal fee of around $10, you can also make copies of this CD-ROM and
distribute it further. The $10 cover the expenses of the person who sent
you the CD-ROM. It's not a license cost. This is another way for those
distributors to contribute back to the project. They enable people who
can't download the software for themselves (no broadband, don't know
where to look to assemble all the bits and pieces) to obtain the software.
Enjoy the software! Make as many of your friends and pupils happy with
it as you can. This sounds unbelievable in the light of commercially
licensed software. It took me a while to grasp the concept of free
software a few years ago, but it's great that it exists. (Free stands
for freedom, not absence of cost, but if you know where to obtain it
www.openoffice.org, The lack of cost comes with the freedom.)
'Paying' for the software is totally voluntary. You can, if you please
donate money, you can file bug reports, you can distribute the SW, you
can start helping out people on mailing lists like this one, you can
create clip-art, you can help proofread or translate the software or the
documentation. There are many possibilities and even simply using the
software and telling people about it or writing articles about it (maybe
for the school newspaper) is considered a contribution. There is no
budget for advertising, but mouth to mouth is the best advertising one
can get.
Cheers,
Jo
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