[ale] Re: Red Hat scare tactics

Chris Ricker kaboom at gatech.edu
Thu Oct 16 10:30:00 EDT 2003


On Thu, 16 Oct 2003, Michael D. Hirsch wrote:

> I haven't checked, but I suspect that the RHN is only provided for one system, 
> not all of them.  In fact, I believe that they claim you can only install on 
> one system, so the $179/sys if the proper estimate above.  It is cheaper that 
> $199, but not by much.
> 
> OTOH, is is $179/sys/year.  That's right, it is a yearly fee.  With XP you are 
> only expected to pay to upgrade every 2-5 years.  That makes XP cheaper.

It is one system, and it is per year. If you need lots of systems, the price 
goes down substantially per system...

> > Red Hat saying that they offer it only as an ISO image but that you cannot
> > burn CDs for others "due to trademarked logos on the image" may not be
> > legal, in my non-legal opinion.
> 
> Thanks Bob.  That explanation makes more sense than any other I've heard.  I 
> agree with you that they are treading on the edge of the GPL.  Kinda 
> sad--they've always big such strong proponents of it in the past.  Now they 
> seem to see it as an obstacle to their business.

This has nothing to do with the GPL and compliance with it (or lack
thereof). Copyright law and trademark law are two different things.

later,
chris



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