hi friends
I mentioned of warranty because of concern for those life support systems that could run on free software, because when I speak to people about linux they are worried about security and safety of data and not many of them can understand coding of the software , Mr .K.Ramanraj had focused some points about the source code that is given with the free software, I agree with his point that if we ensure the code is written well without errors with good quality control checks we can distribute free software with out warranty . I basically am a computer technician , I have been using linux since 1996, then technology was very costly and now free software is available in plenty and I very happy when I came to know about RMS and his Free software movement I read his story on the gnu website.
The Red hat a proporietary software , It is a shocking news , It uses the linux kernel ? how could they make it proprietary ?
regards sylvester
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"Sylvester" == fjsylvester fjsylvester@marketweighton.com writes:
Sylvester> hi friends
Sylvester> I mentioned of warranty because of concern for those Sylvester> life support systems that could run on free software, Sylvester> because when I speak to people about linux they are Sylvester> worried about security and safety of data and not many Sylvester> of them can understand coding of the software , Mr Sylvester> .K.Ramanraj had focused some points about the source Sylvester> code that is given with the free software, I agree with Sylvester> his point that if we ensure the code is written well Sylvester> without errors with good quality control checks we can Sylvester> distribute free software with out warranty . I Sylvester> basically am a computer technician , I have been using Sylvester> linux since 1996, then technology was very costly and Sylvester> now free software is available in plenty and I very Sylvester> happy when I came to know about RMS and his Free Sylvester> software movement I read his story on the gnu website.
Sylvester> The Red hat a proporietary software , It is a shocking Sylvester> news , It uses the linux kernel ? how could they make Sylvester> it proprietary ?
No, Red Hat Linux isn't proprietary software. However the Red Hat logo and name are trademarks.
Red Hat cannot prevent you from copying, modifying and/or distributing Red Hat Linux. They CAN prevent you from calling it Red Hat and using their logo or their name to promote it.
Trademark != Copyright and Trademark != means of restricting distribution and/or freedom.
Regards,
- -- Raju - -- Raj Mathur raju@kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F It is the mind that moves
Any idea about the BlueCurve theme ? Is the theme proprietary or just the trademark Blue Curve.
No, Red Hat Linux isn't proprietary software. However the Red Hat logo and name are trademarks.
Red Hat cannot prevent you from copying, modifying and/or distributing Red Hat Linux. They CAN prevent you from calling it Red Hat and using their logo or their name to promote it.
The installer etc contains some trademarked stuff, how will they affect distribution ?
Trademark != Copyright and Trademark != means of restricting distribution and/or freedom.
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"Arun" == Arun M <Arun> writes:
Arun> Any idea about the BlueCurve theme ? Is the theme Arun> proprietary or just the trademark Blue Curve.
>> No, Red Hat Linux isn't proprietary software. However the Red >> Hat logo and name are trademarks. >> >> Red Hat cannot prevent you from copying, modifying and/or >> distributing Red Hat Linux. They CAN prevent you from calling >> it Red Hat and using their logo or their name to promote it.
Arun> The installer etc contains some trademarked stuff, how will Arun> they affect distribution ?
You must change the installer too. I had to do that when making customised RH distributions for my clients. You basically replace the RH graphics in the installer with your own graphics and remove the Red Hat name wherever it occurs.
I *think* you also have to remove the bluecurve package since it contains RH trademarked information. Not sure about that one, though.
Anyway, making an RH distro trademark-free isn't exactly trivial, but it isn't rocket science either. Needs some work.
Regards,
- -- Raju - -- Raj Mathur raju@kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F It is the mind that moves
fjsylvester said on Sat, Dec 06, 2003 at 11:54:09AM +0530,:
The Red hat a proporietary software , It is a shocking news
Red Hat is a registered trade mark of Red Hat Incorporated, a company registered and incorporated under the laws of United States of America. You cannot use the name `Red Hat' to refer to any product, including a CDROM containing an ISO image of a GNU/Linux installation because the *law* relating to Trade Marks says so; there is no point blaming poor Red Hat for this. The free software movement is about freedom for software users. AFAIK, it does not concern itself with TradeMarks; and rightly so.
By the way, the word `linux' and the image of Tux, the penguin are also trademarked by Linus. So, he can prevent you from using the Tux image to refer to works modified you. I do not know, and have not verified if Linus has permitted unlimited use of the Tux Logo.
, It uses the linux kernel ? how could they make it proprietary ?
RH uses not only the Linux kernel, but also the GNU C compiler collection, GNU libc libraries, GNU emacs multi-purpose program, the GNU Network Object Model Environment (GNOME) desktop, GNU wget, GNU coreutils, GNUplot, GNUmeric, GNU bash, GNU bash-builtins, GNU readline, GNU GPG, GNU bc and dc utilities, GNU aspell, GNU sed & awk, GNU ncurses, GNU sharutils, GNU terminfo, GNU make and friends, and so on. (I will stop with this ...)
Starting from version 8, RH has removed all non-free programs from their freely redistributable CDs. They continue to be free redistributable, so long as you remove the RH logo and other references to their trade marks.
Debian, OTOH, uses a more sensible Trademark policy. The Debian logo, which looks something like this:-
.''`. : :' : `. `'` `-
(sort of a spiral) is freely modifiable and redistributable. The real logo of the Debian project is *not* included on the downloadable ISO images or CDs sold by Debian. See www.debian.org/logos/index.html Note the term `if official approval is given by Debian..' etc.
I think that the issue of logos explains[1] the fact that several distros are based on Debian. (Knoppix, Gnoppix, Lindows, skolelinux, to name a few).
IMHO, distros are perfectly justified in zealously protecting their Trade Marks. There is a difference between saying `this product is from foo' and `this uses products from foo'. The latter statement is required by law of copyright; you cannot make the former statement if you have modified foo's product.
[1] Of course, Debian is much easier to customise, IMHO than other distros. That too is a contributing factor. They distinguish between the several variants of free software licenses; and is technically much better.
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Arun M -
fjsylvester -
Mahesh T. Pai -
Raj Mathur