On Wednesday 30 March 2005 17:42, Rony Bill wrote:

Please do read the gpl.

I was refering to the present situation, not the past. SuSe's site has a free version as well as other paid versions. RHEL as you mention is a paid distro. The free versions are like 'personal' editions whereas the ones for businesses are more featured and paid for.

What exactly does this stupid statement mean. I could give you a hundred very sound reasons for the "Missing features", but dont want to bore the whole list (as it would involve collating your past posts which cribbed about ease of use etc.).

Is SuSe Professional 9 or above, a freeware software like SuSe personal? By branded distros I am refering to popular brands like RedHat, SuSe, Mandrake and the likes. Is it legal to copy and use as many times, paid-for linux versions?

The most popular in terms of installed user base is Debian. The gpl allows you to make as many copies of any gpld software and use it in any fashion you please. The only restrictions is that you cannot change the terms of the gpl. And if you care to read, the commercial distros come with manuals and support. You are paying for the manual and support. They may also include some closed source drivers, which are distributed on different terms (eg. the winmodem drivers). There is no restriction on your downloading the distro for free or obtaining the same by any means available to you. You are however prevented from using the brand name of some distros. Quite obviously if the Company is spending money on creating a brand equity for it self I see no reason why some free loader should be allowed to exploit it's brand image. Particularly by someone ignorant enough to not know what the gpl is about let alone other things more complex.

rgds jtd