Nick Rout wrote:
On Wed, 2005-02-09 at 21:10 +1300, Richard Tindall wrote:Debian first released 1995 - a year after RedHat. Which companies made debian possible in the first place?
For Lyndsay: there are Debian(-based) OS's, and there are other OS's (imho).
which ones do you use Rik?
I think it may be getting a bit too focussed for most people to now say anything more than 'who cares'. Linux sells because it's marketed well - just like how M$ started. People identify with tux - for example the screenshot Nick posted a day or two ago. What does gnu have? I expect only a few listers will be able to answer.
So you're correct. There's just Gnu(GPL'd)/Linux, and
Gnu(GPL'd)/Linux. (And BSD.)
Linux is released under the GPL but it is not GNU software.
The balance of the software in distros is released under many licenses.
Some of it is GNU software, and under the GPL. As I understand it if you want your software to come under the GNU umbrella you must assign your copyright to the Free Software Foundation
Some of it is under the GPL but not GNU software.
Some of it is open sourced under other licences, examples of which are the mozilla public license, in fact too many to name. xorg-x11 lists all of these licenses: "Adobe-X CID DEC DEC-2 IBM-X NVIDIA-X NetBSD SGI UCB-LBL XC-2 bigelow-holmes-urw-gmbh-luxi christopher-g-demetriou national-semiconductor nokia tektronix the-open-group todd-c-miller x-truetype xfree86-1.0 MIT SGI-B BSD || ( FTL GPL-2"
Some is not open sourced at all, or under "free" but not "free" licenses.
The BSD license is a quite different to the GPL, it doesn't require release back to the community or distribution of modified sources - you only have to credit the BSD crowd. Hence there is reputedlty (or maybe was) BSD networking code in some versions of windows.
I suspect it would be possible (but bloody difficult and largely pointless except as an academic exercise) to run linux without GNU software.
As one of those who make a living out of linux, I want it to become *much more popular* then my skills will be so much in demand that I will have my dream ( http://www.pistonheads.com/fastcars/eb110.htm ) come true (:
What linux / gnu linux / oss / free software has done as a group ( maybe concept is a better word ) is to provide a popular and affordable alternative to M$ products. The fact that some big players are getting interested in / scared by the big power for small money available using this route is great, but we've already got 'proprietary' linuxes ( linii??? ) like RHEL and SLES which is just another, far more controlled ballgame. It's still gpl'd software, but touch it and your support contract's blown.
Now that an increasing minority think it's time for the M$ empire to hand over some of the home user market that it invented, it needs to be attacked by something equally as glitzy, and secondly, as productive. Linux isn't going to present that picture when wrangling over licenses. Let that come when I've got my DB-9 for everyday use as well (:
$0.02
Steve
