Hi Mike (Ross)... again, I guess I should have read all 300 of my unread Linux/390 posts before sending this. You absolutely answered my question - it's always been my understanding that under the GPL for Linux the vendor can charge a fee for distribution related stuff. You've already covered this in great detail.
So, given that it is permissable to copy and distribute the media which (someone) has already paid for, does anybody have a set of SuSE 7.2 or RedHat 7.2 (GA, I'm currently looking at RC2)CD's which I can FTP or get a copy of? Let me add one other thought. Does the predatory pricing of the most recent Linux for S/390 distributions remind anyone but me of the story The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg? Linux for S/390 is a good thing all around, it will sell hardware, it will sell service contracts to those who WANT THEM, it will propogate Linux to the fastest and most reliable hardware yet known. But FORCING service contracts upon (potential) customers who are still now evaluating whether or not Linux/390 fits into their organization will just simply KILL such initiatives. Furthermore, a Linux distribution is a Linux distribution is a Linux distribution - so why does it seem reasonable that I can pick up a SuSE for Intel CD for $10 and all I get is what I wanted, the distribution on CD - but for S/390 I'm required to pay $14,990 more for service I neither asked for nor desire (at this time)?!? That's not to say that I might not WANT to contract for service at a later date, but that time may never come... because THIS flavor of Linux (unlike ALL others) suddenly cannot be obtained freely. These are my own thoughts and positions and not necessarily those of my clients! Michael Coffin, VM Systems Programmer Internal Revenue Service - Room�6030 1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C.� 20224 Voice: (202)�927-4188�� FAX:� (202) 622-6726 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -----Original Message----- From: Coffin Michael C [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 10:02 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Current Linux/390 Distributions Aren't Cheap Hi Mike, I heard that the SuSE 7.2 distribution (which includes a "mandatory service contract"!) is around $15,000! I don't mind paying $100 for CD's (even though it's WAY too much), but $15,000 for the $10 CD's and $14,990 for service I don't want - that's a pretty hard sell to management who has been told that Linux is "free for the masses". I was under the impression that under the terms of the Linux distribution license, vendors (RedHat, SuSE, etc.) are allowed to package and sell Linux the Linux kernel but that the fee charged for the distribution was supposed to be to cover their expense on the packaging and distribution (or something like that). Can someone elaborate on this? I could be totally wrong about this, but when I first got involved with Linux this was my understanding. I realize that all of the sources can be downloaded from the vendor sites and manually applied, it's just a lot faster and easier to use the vendor's packaged distribution (but not for $15,000). Please feel free to correct me anywhere I may be wrong here (I HOPE that I am VERY wrong). :) Michael Coffin, VM Systems Programmer Internal Revenue Service - Room�6030 1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C.� 20224 Voice: (202)�927-4188�� FAX:� (202) 622-6726 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -----Original Message----- From: Mike Ross [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2002 11:34 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: reasons why management don't want linux > > > less software costs (one copy per engine vs one copy each for each >boxes) then > > > most other platforms. > > > > software costs lower. How many copies of Red Hat PC boxed set can >you buy > > for a VM license ;) > >How much is a SuSe Linux/390 distribution these days? A German user >told me yesterday that the cost is very far from insignificant. It can be downloaded at no charge. For a proper boxed distribution with CDs, Suse guy at Linuxworld last year quoted me IIRC $100. It wasn't very far from that figure at any rate. No idea what official Suse support costs are. Mike http://www.corestore.org _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
