On Fri, 2 Nov 2001, Wim Godden wrote: > Tim Sellar wrote: > > I would like to address a couple of the comments which have been posted with > > regard to the GPL status and availability of freeVSD-1.4.10. > > freeVSD-1.4.10 is, and always has been available to anyone, free of charge > > and courtesy of IDAYA via anonymous CVS. In the early days of open-source > > software this was typically the only form in which software was available > > and wholly fulfills the obligation of the GPL to make source code available. > ok, I don't want to be a pain in the ass, but explain this to me : > - You don't release .tar.gz files anymore > - You do have anonymous CVS available > - People can simply make .tar.gz files from anonymous CVS > Then why the heck don't you simply make .tar.gz files ?
Why can't people who want it CVS? Free does not have to equal easy. With commercial software companies that offer free software products there's usually two ways you can invest; with time learning the rules, or with money to get the support and proprietary features. tar.gz would be convenient, I think they've already said that convenience is discouraged so people will buy the CDs. That sounds cold and a little unfair until you think about how much it costs to have even a CVS server open and freely available to the Internet (think bandwidth spikes, co-lo space, admin brains, etc). In short they can't make it super easy to get this software free because they need to support themselves. It's $200 US. That's something like $350 Canadian, and I could still see paying more for the CD distribution if my enterprise depended on it (we're in testing now which is why I'm subscribed to support). If a company can't afford to invest that then it's time to re-think the business model, or CVS off the network. Anyway, sorry to sound preechy, but regardless of the Free Software movement, there really is no such thing as a free ride. Somebody always ends up paying a toll somewhere and I think we should keep that in mind before we demand things be made easier on us for nothing. But Wim I agree with you almost in full on many points :) -- Simon Carr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ineocom - http://www.ineocom.com Tel: 416.831.7876 - Fax: 416.831.7875 ------------------------- The freeVSD Support List -------------------------- Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=subscribe%20freevsd-support Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=unsubscribe%20freevsd-support Archives: http://freevsd.org/support/mail-archives/freevsd-support -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
