> a. Are there any _official_ SuSE isos ? > AFAIK you can install only trough ftp (right try this over a > modem), and not all packages are available (commercial, etc.)
I believe so but only for one of two versions behind the current release. And they do offer the live cd's which can probably be installed to HDD if you so desired and could be bothered working out how to. > b. What about Mandrake ? > Do I have to sign for the "club" ? No! They'd like you to but you don't have to. No more than you have to sign up for the Red Hat network. And Unlike Red Hat they don't bother you about it. There Mirror distribution network allows every body to get a decent connection to there updates. > As far as I know RedHat is the only widespread "commercial" distro for > which the isos are available straight from _their own_ web site (not third > party), _no_ strings attached! Mandrake offers their isos from any one who's prepared to mirror them and are happy to make any one who does an official mirror. The also run there own server which the other Mirrors use as the root. All there packages, except those that are commercial like StarOffice and some Club ones are available for free download. Though only a select few are included in there default Download CD's. They offer the source and the tools for making there ISO's if you want to download all the Mandrake Packages they include scripts and other tools for generating a full set of cd's equiv to the Professional ed they offer. Excluding only the commercial apps. There Download ed's are totally GPL/LGPL or equiv. All Mandrake tools are GPL or LGPL that is all there Drakes installation programs hardware detection etc the Works! They are also the most open community run distro on the planet after Debian. Any one can submit patches new software etc and join the Cooker Mailing list! They also often allow other sites to use there Logo and Trademarks if asked. Places like www.mandrakeusers.org have permission to do so and are completely separate from MandrakeSoft. > Oh, yes they are bound to release the sources of LGPL/GPL but _not_ > required for isos. And they could have easily add some commercial packages, > like SuSE. > > 3. Somebody ;-) forgot that RedHat itself develops (has contributions) > quite a significant amount of _free_ software. At least AFAIK they have/had > big contributions to Cygnus, Gnome, gcc and the kernel itself just to name > few. The Gnome situation is particularly ironic since they've pushed for it > particularly because at the time KDE was not considered sufficiently free > (QT issues). And now they are considered evil ?!? Well the issues they've had with KDE over the last few ed's certainly haven't helped. And many other groups contribute to many of the Major GNU/Linux projects. Suse does alot of development work out side there non GPL stuff. As do Mandrake with things like supermount which is used or available in several different distros. chad > The trademark is among the very few things they have and they want to > protect their reputation. > > What if I would do some perfectly legitimate things (not illegal or stuff) > and then sign "Michael McCarthy" ? Would _you_ like it ? > > Let see: some third party tries to make a (small) buck out of the free isos > and then they complain when they are asked _nicely_ to rename their wares. > > So far I just smell the envy. ;-) > > Humm....
