Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 07:06:09 +0000 (GMT) From: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> To: chuckr@glue.umd.edu (Chuck Robey) Cc: eivind@yes.no, oppermann@pipeline.ch, current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: HEADS UP: 3.0 enters BETA status in 12 days! Message-ID: <199809060706.AAA13908@usr01.primenet.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.00.9809051433100.21019-100000@picnic.mat.net> from "Chuck Robey" at Sep 5, 98 02:37:17 pm
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> I just checked Kirk's posts about it, and Andre falls into a hole > between where Kirk did and didn't specify. > > He said private, non-coomercial was free. > > He said companies that package it and sell it embedded should pay, and > that included ISPs, but there the example was ISPs who put a machine at > a customer's site. > > As far as ISPs using it themselves, it's unclear. Kirk gave an example > of someone at work using on their workstation, and he said that was > free. I'd guess Eivind's right, you'd have to check it with Kirk > McKusick. I disagree. A one-off installation is clearly covered in the "I would like you to donate, but yoyu are note required to" case. The case where you are required to is the case where you resell software the depends on the features. For Whistle, this includes all kernel code, since the new version of WhistleWare (repackaged FreeBSD) depends on the code. A side benefit of this is that Whistle paid for a FreeBSD port, which would not have existed otherwise, and a number of bug-fixes which both Kirk and BSDI benefitted from. I think for a specifric ISP, so long as a derived work were not distributed, there is a request for support, but no requirement. Kirk is not RMS, and he understands economies of Intellectual property, where RMS does not. In any case, if you are in a quandry, ask. I think the answer, unless you intend to resell the code (which ISP's do not), will be "go ahead an use it". The main issue is that if you make money off his effort, he wants to make money, too. This isn't unreasoanble. Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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