On Friday 02 July 2004 23:33, Barry Fitzgerald wrote: > Denis Dimick wrote: > >>Per the Free Software model it does. The key point here is that Red Hat > >>is redistributing the code and making a profit off of it. It's Red > >>Hat's choice regarding whether to redistribute said code. Since they're > >>making the money off of it, they have to support it. > > > >Sorry Barry but your wrong. If I burn a CD of a bunch of appliactions I > >get off the net and sell it, then by what your saying I should be > >supporting it? So then my ISP should support all the applications I get > >off the net since they take my money and give me net access? > > No, I'm not wrong. > > The discussion is about who's responsible for support of said software. > There's no obligation through the GNU GPL that support is required if > money changes hands, however the point of the discussion is who's > responsible for support of said software in a situation where the > software produced is broken and supported. > > Red Hat sells support. The act of taking binaries and actively and > intentionally redistributing them is a support service.
Well that is open to debate. If I just download Redhat, they make no money off me. Do they still have to fix my software then ? Are they responsible ? I'll give you a couple of scenarios, you decide what you do in each case. A guy walks in front of you. You see him throwing a sandwich in the bin. So you take it out and eat it, and subsequentially you get food-poisoning. Will you blame the guy ? And if so, do you have any legal recourse to do so ? Next, an unknown fellow hands you a sandwich saying he's not hungry anymore. The same thing happens, you get sick off it. Now do you blame / sue ? (Let's assume he did not know the food had gone bad and acted in good faith) Same scenario, but this time it is a friend who hands you the sandwich. Do you sue him ? Or do you perhaps sue the shop where he bought it ? Can you even hold him responsible, seeing as he acted in good faith ? Next scenario, someone sells you the sandwich, for 5 cents. You frown upon the exceptionally low price but you thank him and eat it nevertheless. Yada yada. Last scenario, which you already know, you buy the sandwich at a normal price. Do you sue in this case ? Note: I don't have all the answers to the above... just some food (pun not intended) for thought... Maarten > What type of support you get is contractual based on what you service > level you "buy". > > When Red Hat redistributes Free Software and takes money for support, > they become contractually liable to provide that support. > > This isn't the same situation as your net access example for three > reasons: First, net access is a transmission medium. ISP's are in the > business of providing access to a service for use of that service, not > in redistribution of software. Second, the ISP isn't selling you a > support contract for software acquired through using their service. Red > Hat does sell support contracts for software they redistribute. Third, > Red Hat can modify the software it's redistributing, making them the > provider of said software. The same can't be said for an ISP. > > I suppose if you took my last sentence in the previous message in a > bubble and without any context, yeah - it'd be wrong since the GNU GPL > doesn't require that and has a no warranty clause. However, I didn't > think that you'd read the message that way. Mea Culpa. > > >Have to agree with you here. To me some of the software that they have > >"bundled" into their CD's has been odd to say the least. > > > >I fear that RH will probally try to become like M$ in the linux world. > > Very unlikely. > > As long as Red Hat complies with the GNU GPL (and they have and continue > to do so) they're not going to end up that way. > > It's the SCOs and MSs of the world that deserve your anger. Save your > energy for them. :) > > -Barry > > > _______________________________________________ > Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. > Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html -- Yes of course I'm sure it's the red cable. I guarante[^%!/+)F#0c|'NO CARRIER _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
