---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Gregory Zysk <[email protected]> Date: Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 2:22 PM Subject: Re: Ubuntu's not GNU/Linux? To: Sam Tuke <[email protected]>
On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 2:11 PM, Sam Tuke <[email protected]> wrote: > I find it hard to believe that it is a licensing issue - many other > commercial distributions mention Linux repeatedly on their websites (Suse, > RHEL, Mandriva...), and if it were because of this then why would they be > able to put it on other pages, and just not the front page? > It is a licensing issue when they cannot ship their distro and all of its parts under the GNU/GPL. Certain proprietary components are not free to modify and distribute unless cleared through the vendor and in the case of flash that would be Adobe. > > Linux is a trademark (and I've gone through the sub-licensing process of it > myself), but there is nothing stopping companies referencing it - "based on > Linux", "a version of Linux" etc. are all acceptable references to the term. > I do not see the argument here. Linux as a product is different than that of the GNU philosophy. > > Also GNU's opinion isn't relevant to Ubuntu's ability to refer to Linux as > far as I can see - they have no rights to the word or its application; what > power could they have to prevent an organisation from using it? > There is nothing preventing Canonical from building an operating system off of the linux kernel. Many companies do that. > > I'm not aware of any good reason for Ubuntu hiding the fact that its based > on GNU/Linux. > I do not think that they are trying to hide it personally, I believe that Hugo's comment was right in the fact that they are trying to differentiate themselves in the market rather than being another linux distro. Greg > > > Sam, > > > > That is because they can't. It is about licensing. They ship non-free or > > proprietary software with their distribution, such as Flash which > prohibits > > them from adhering to the 4 freedoms of the GNU philosophy. You can find > > GNU's own stance on Ubuntu > > here.<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/common-distros.html> > > > > Gregory > -- Title: Fedora Ambassador Netherlands User Homepage: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Gmzysk PGP Fingerprint: 4643 E1AE 1AAD 85D4 6276 7C42 3591 A189 B8BF 04D6 -- Title: Fedora Ambassador Netherlands User Homepage: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Gmzysk PGP Fingerprint: 4643 E1AE 1AAD 85D4 6276 7C42 3591 A189 B8BF 04D6
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