On Sun, Nov 11, 2007 08:30:03 AM +0000, jonathon
([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> On Nov 9, 2007 4:23 PM, Nicu Begnescu wrote:
>
> > Can Open Office be used in Business environment ?
>
> Yes.
> You might want to have the lawyer for the firm read _all_ of the
> licenses and contracts for software and hardware, to determine
> whether or not there are any clauses that prohibit the firm from
> using other software, or otherwise conflict with each other.
??? Sorry, what do you mean?
Software licenses (at least the enforceable, real ones, not the "you
own me a beer for my code if you ever stop by my neighborhood" kind
(1)) limit how you can modify, mix and redistribute the _source_ code
of the respective programs or how many copies you can install and for
how long.
And, of course, there are things like no-cost licenses for educational
or non-profit use versus expensive licenses for business use, but
that's an issue at another level (and it's not the case with
OpenOffice, of course).
Apart from the above distinctions (voiding warranties is yet another
issue, so we can ignore it), could you quote specific cases of
licenses that attempt to limit what you do _with_ the executable
software as a user, or which other programs can be used use in
conjunction with the original software? Licenses that would have legal
value worldwide, that is.
Thanks,
Marco
(1) yes, this really happened, it was on Linux Journal a few years
ago: and the lawyers of a company decided not to use the corresponding
software because, even if the license was very likely null, it wasn't
worth the risk of wasting a lot of time in court to prove it.
--
The one book on software and digital technologies that no parent or
teacher can ignore: http://digifreedom.net/node/84
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