On Thursday 09 July 2009, Raj Mathur wrote: > On Thursday 09 Jul 2009, Rony wrote: > > Is that possible when installing from the same original RHEL = FOSS + > > Trademark CD? Does the RedHat installation process have two different > > installation methods for paid and free? > > The only proper way to answer the question: > > "Is RHEL FOSS or not?" > > is to rephrase it as: > > "Does RHEL violate the letter and/or the spirit of any of the software > licences it includes?". > > Before going into the discussion, do note that RH (like any other > producer or consumer of FOSS) is not _obliged_ to provide you with any > software. To take the GPL as the extreme example, it says that if you > write/modify a piece of software and make it GPL, you don't have to give > it away to anyone. However, _if_ you give it to someone, the GPL > obliges you to give that person the source code too. In other words, > the GPL still doesn't enable me to walk up to you and demand your > software from you -- if you choose not to release to someone, that > someone is free to get it from an alternative source, but he can't force > you to give it to him.
Red herring. Nobody is asking RH for anything. > > Similarly, RH is not obliged to give its software to you. If you get it > from someone else, then that person can give you RHEL, but only those > parts of RHEL that fall under a FOSS licence. The RH trademarks do not > fall under a FOSS licence however, hence transferring them is violation > of trademark law and your source will not be able to legally give you > the complete RHEL distribution. True and applies only to a media copy. > > Does this violate the spirit of the software that comprises RHEL? > Again, as far as I know RHEL is one of the few companies with a product > offering who make the bulk of their revenue from services, not from the > product. They co-exist comfortably with CentOS, who effectively provide > you with the RHEL product with the trademarks stripped out. If you want > RHEL without the service component, just use CentOS; the trademarked > logos contribute in no way to the effectiveness of the software and > losing them is of no consequence one way or the other. If you do want > the service component, call RH and get the product _with the service_ > from them. If you want RH service on 2 computers and no service on the > other 5, you can buy the service from RH for the 2 and run CentOS on the > other 5. The software they developed for maintaining installations over > the web is FOSS, so you can even set up your own competing service using > CentOS as the product if you're inclined that way. > > So RHEL doesn't violate the letter of any of the software licences it > includes. Given the openness with which RH has approached the FOSS > model, I would find it difficult to justify an assertion that they have > violated the spirit of FOSS and the licences too. You cannot install from the original cd on machines not subscribed to RH service. THAT is a clear violation of spirit. WARNING!!!! I havent read the licence and i am relying on what others wrote in this thread. I havent used RH since 6.2 and could not care less about what hey do.ut > The key to > understanding RHEL is first appreciating that it is not a single, > monolithic product -- it's a collection of many objects, each under its > own licence. Some of the licences are FOSS and some aren't, so to speak > of RHEL being FOSS or not is in some ways meaningless. It helps if we > then avoid viewing RHEL from the traditional product point of view and > look at it more as a service delivery platform. The platform is > available both with and without the service, and RH is making money from > the service, not from the platform. > > Note: While I do have a fair amount of respect for RH, I am not formally > associated with them in any way. > > Regards, > > -- Raju > -- > Raj Mathur [email protected] http://kandalaya.org/ > GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F > PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/ || It is the mind that moves -- Rgds JTD -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
