I think that was his point. If they aren't making the source
available to their customers, is that grounds to bring it to the
attention of PayPal, Ebay, etc.?
While technically legal, I do take issue with those who only
sell a link to what is freely downloadable, adding no value whatsoever.
There have been many posts of late with people upset about
paying money and not being able to get immediate support -- completely
unaware that this is a "support community" -- users helping users. This
gives OOo a bad rap, as they (mistakenly) think OOo is where their money
went.
Our only recourse, it would seem, would be to find any way in
which they (the vendor) violated the LPGL in the least and bring it
attention to their ISP, their means of distribution/selling (i.e. Ebay),
etc.
-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Cox [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 12:26 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: James Knott
Subject: Re: [users] New users being taken by "vendors"
On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 10:46:55 -0400
James Knott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I have noticed that there are many new users appearing here, with
> download or install problems, after they have paid some vendor for
> OpenOffice. In many cases, they have paid for nothing more than a
> download link. Is there anything we can do, to resolve this? I know
> those vendors are supposed to include links to OpenOffice binaries and
> source, but I don't recall seeing any that have done so. Would
> complaints to eBay or Pay Pal help? As it is, many people may be
> getting a poor impression of OO, due to these vendors.
Your understanding of the vendor's obligations is (very slightly)
incorrect.
OpenOffice is Free Software within the official definition provided by
the Free
Software Foundation. OpenOffice is licensed under the terms of the GNU
Lesser
General Public License.
Anyone can give away, sell or otherwise distribute OpenOffice under the
terms
of the license. However, anyone who distributes OpenOffice is obligated
under
the terms of the license to offer the source code to the person to whom
they
provided the software for not more than a reasonable fee to cover the
costs of
providing the same.
Sections 6(c) and 6(d) of the LGPL are very clear on this point:
QUOTE:
# c) Accompany the work with a written offer, valid for at least three
years, to give the same user the materials specified in Subsection 6a,
above, for a charge no more than the cost of performing this
distribution.
# d) If distribution of the work is made by offering access to copy from
a designated place, offer equivalent access to copy the above specified
materials from the same place.
END OF QUOTE
Note that the source code must be made available to persons who obtain
(purchase, download, whatever) the program from you. Contrary to a
common
mis-perception, this does not mean that a vendor must give access to the
source
code to the general public at large -- their obligation is to provide
their
customers - people who got the program from them by whatever means -
access to
the source code.
In other words, if Joe's Downloading Service is selling a download link
or a
CD, they must make the source code available to the people who purchase
the
download link or CD. They are not obligated to provide the source code
to
anyone else -- a person who has not purchased the download link or the
CD
from Joe's Downloading Service would not have a right to demand the
source code
from Joe's Downloading Service.
The ethics of selling Free Software at inflated prices are a separate
issue and
not really within the scope of a discussion of the license. Many people
(including me) use and install Free Software of various kinds as part of
consulting and services businesses. Obviously, they get paid for their
services and support. However, this is, in my opinion, a more
legitimate and
"fair" use of Free Software than the simple sale of a download link with
no
services or support, but again that is a different issue.
The bottom line is that the folks selling a mere download link are
allowed to
do that by the terms of the license, as long as they meet their
obligation to provide access to the source code to their customers.
OpenOffice is Free Software. Anyone is free to sell it if they wish.
--
MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Melville Sask ~ http://www.melvilletheatre.com
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