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Re: How do you pronounce Linux?

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On 2013-06-24, unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> wrote:
> On 2013-06-22, Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> wrote:
>> On Saturday 22 June 2013 09:21, unruh conveyed the following to 
>> comp.os.linux.misc...
>>
>>> On 2013-06-20, Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Thursday 20 June 2013 14:27, unruh conveyed the following to
>>>> comp.os.linux.misc...
>>>>
>>>>> On 2013-06-20, Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>     it in any way.  Free Software is software which may or may not
>>>>>>     be distributed commercially - e.g. RedHat EL is Free Software,
>>>>>>     but it is only available from RedHat itself as a commercial
>>>>>>     bundle, which
>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> No. Redhat ELsoftware is specifically released under GPL, and any
>>>>> further restrictions (eg restrictions which they have at times tried
>>>>> to impose related to trademarks etc) are clearly in violation of the
>>>>> GPL and can thus be ignored. Their support contract is proprietary,
>>>>> but the software is not.
>>>>
>>>> Uhh, that's what I said, Bill.
>>> 
>>> ?? Sorry that was not how \i read 'It is only available from Redhat
>>> itself as a commercial bundle'
>>
>> That was a reference in particular to RedHat Enterprise Linux, which is 
>> a commercial bundle, comprised of Free Software, possibly a few bits of 
>> proprietary software and a limited support contract.  There was a hyphen 
>> separating that part about RedHat from the rest of my sentence. ;-)
>>
>> That said, those who do actually want to use a RHEL without paying for 
>> it and without the support contract can always download CentOS, which is 
>> identical to RedHat (in terms of the software packages) except for the 
>> branding, the omission of non-free software and of course the absence of 
>> a support contract.
>
> Agreed. However, the GPL explicitly states that any attempt to reduce
> the rights of the user, including proprietary software, trademarks, etc.
> invalidates the permission to distribute the GPL material. Redhat does
> use trademarks/proprietary software to attempt to limit theuserr's
> rights to run and distribute the GPL software. That means that Redhat
> has no right to distribute the software, (but anyone who gets it does
> have the right to use and distrribute it). 
> The support contract is of course up to them, but the updates to the
> software is also GPL and if it is distributed to anyone it must be
> available (or can be made available) to all. Redhat has long tried hard
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> to skirt the legal edges of the GPL, spending most of their time outside
> those edges. 

There's a rather subtle issue with the highlighted phrase above:

If HatRed distributes GPL software to someone (let's call that
person party B), HatRed is under _NO_ obligation to distribute
said GPL software to anyone else.  Neither is party B obligated
to redistribute said GPL software.

What the GPL requires is that HatRed cannot prohibit party B (who
received the software from HatRed) from redistributing it to
anyone else party B wishes to redistribute it to.  I agree HatRed
has spent a great deal of their recent time outside the lines.

-- 
Robert Riches
spamtrap42@jacob21819.net
(Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)

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Re: How do you pronounce Linux? Kevin <kevhod@gmail.com> - 2013-06-19 04:11 -0700
  Re: How do you pronounce Linux? Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2013-06-19 12:32 -0400
  Re: How do you pronounce Linux? Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-06-20 04:43 +0200
    Re: How do you pronounce Linux? unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2013-06-20 12:27 +0000
      Re: How do you pronounce Linux? Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-06-20 15:30 +0200
        Re: How do you pronounce Linux? unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2013-06-22 07:21 +0000
          Re: How do you pronounce Linux? Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-06-22 09:37 +0200
            Re: How do you pronounce Linux? unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2013-06-24 08:40 +0000
              Re: How do you pronounce Linux? Robert Riches <spamtrap42@jacob21819.net> - 2013-06-25 03:56 +0000
                Re: How do you pronounce Linux? Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be.invalid> - 2013-06-25 07:02 +0200
      Re: How do you pronounce Linux? Keith Keller <kkeller-usenet@wombat.san-francisco.ca.us> - 2013-06-20 08:31 -0700
  Re: How do you pronounce Linux? unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2013-06-20 12:20 +0000

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