[opensuse-factory] Novell openSUSE license
Right at the start of the installation one is presented with a long piece of legalese, called the "Novell Pre-Release Software License Agreement", on the CD as EULA.txt. This hole piece reads like Billy couldn't have written it better. I at least find that offensive. Without reading the rest of the drivel (I know what my rights under the GPL are, and the really good thing is, Novell can do nought about it), it says right at the start: THE SOFTWARE MAY NOT BE SOLD, TRANSFERRED, OR FURTHER DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION FROM NOVELL. I wonder what e.g. the FSF has to say about that. As the "legal department" is pretty quick when it comes to what software can be included in openSUSE, can't they use their collective brains to come up with something that is fair, appropriate, or at least not in danger of attracting legal proceedings? Volker -- Volker Kuhlmann is list0570 with the domain in header http://volker.dnsalias.net/ Please do not CC list postings to me. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org
Am Freitag 28 März 2008 schrieb Volker Kuhlmann:
Right at the start of the installation one is presented with a long piece of legalese, called the "Novell Pre-Release Software License Agreement", on the CD as EULA.txt.
This hole piece reads like Billy couldn't have written it better. I at least find that offensive. Without reading the rest of the drivel (I know what my rights under the GPL are, and the really good thing is, Novell can do nought about it), it says right at the start:
THE SOFTWARE MAY NOT BE SOLD, TRANSFERRED, OR FURTHER DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION FROM NOVELL.
I wonder what e.g. the FSF has to say about that.
As the "legal department" is pretty quick when it comes to what software can be included in openSUSE, can't they use their collective brains to come up with something that is fair, appropriate, or at least not in danger of attracting legal proceedings?
openSUSE is not under the GPL. It may be made out of GPL software, but still Novell holds all rights on the assembly of the product. And as we had the case before where german magazines put Alpha0 on a cover mount and say "OpenSUSE 11 is ready" - there is no other chance to protect the openSUSE distribution than by its EULA. And remember: this is the Pre-Release EULA. Greetings, Stephan -- SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg) --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org
On Friday 28 March 2008, Stephan Kulow wrote:
Am Freitag 28 März 2008 schrieb Volker Kuhlmann:
Right at the start of the installation one is presented with a long piece of legalese, called the "Novell Pre-Release Software License Agreement", on the CD as EULA.txt.
-snip-
As the "legal department" is pretty quick when it comes to what software can be included in openSUSE, can't they use their collective brains to come up with something that is fair, appropriate, or at least not in danger of attracting legal proceedings?
openSUSE is not under the GPL. It may be made out of GPL software, but still Novell holds all rights on the assembly of the product.
And as we had the case before where german magazines put Alpha0 on a cover mount and say "OpenSUSE 11 is ready" - there is no other chance to protect the openSUSE distribution than by its EULA. And remember: this is the Pre-Release EULA. And just to stregthen this, the EULA of the Goldmaster version doesn't contain such wording. Especially with the 1 CD version you may distribute it in any way.
Michael
Greetings, Stephan
-- Michael Löffler, Product Management Email: michl@suse.de Phone: +49 911 74053-376 SUSE LINUX Products GmbH - Nürnberg - AG Nürnberg - HRB 16746 - GF: Markus Rex --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org
On Sat 29 Mar 2008 01:23:12 NZDT +1300, Stephan Kulow wrote:
openSUSE is not under the GPL. It may be made out of GPL software, but still Novell holds all rights on the assembly of the product.
Ok. I still find it off-putting. Compare with the license of eg Codeweavers, who also spare a thought about the rights of their customers. And it's not thought very far - my spare time doesn't extend to obtaining written permission before giving copies to other testers, and sorry for not writing good bug reports but Novell doesn't allow me to disassemble the assembly to see where the problem might be.
And as we had the case before where german magazines put Alpha0 on a cover mount and say "OpenSUSE 11 is ready"
Staggering stupidity. Some journos are working hard to keep up their industry's image. Or was this a tactic of the competition to disrepute open source?
- there is no other chance to protect the openSUSE distribution than by its EULA.
I beg to differ, but rather keep bugzilla busy about a3 than argue this point.
And remember: this is the Pre-Release EULA.
This has no relevance to me I'm afraid. Volker -- Volker Kuhlmann is list0570 with the domain in header http://volker.dnsalias.net/ Please do not CC list postings to me. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org
Hi, On Sat, 29 Mar 2008, Volker Kuhlmann wrote:
On Sat 29 Mar 2008 01:23:12 NZDT +1300, Stephan Kulow wrote:
openSUSE is not under the GPL. It may be made out of GPL software, but still Novell holds all rights on the assembly of the product.
Ok. I still find it off-putting. Compare with the license of eg Codeweavers, who also spare a thought about the rights of their customers. And it's not thought very far - my spare time doesn't extend to obtaining written permission before giving copies to other testers, and sorry for not writing good bug reports but Novell doesn't allow me to disassemble the assembly to see where the problem might be.
And as we had the case before where german magazines put Alpha0 on a cover mount and say "OpenSUSE 11 is ready"
Staggering stupidity. Some journos are working hard to keep up their industry's image. Or was this a tactic of the competition to disrepute open source?
- there is no other chance to protect the openSUSE distribution than by its EULA.
I beg to differ, but rather keep bugzilla busy about a3 than argue this point.
And remember: this is the Pre-Release EULA.
This has no relevance to me I'm afraid.
Guess what all the mirrors would have to do if they would take that brain-dead licence for serious... Hopefully some brained person at SUSE/Novell is already on the way to clear this situation, or almost all the mirrors have to take some big delete action. Me too - i would never ask for permission in this case, but go the safe way. Viele Grüße Eberhard Mönkeberg (emoenke@gwdg.de, em@kki.org) -- Eberhard Mönkeberg Arbeitsgruppe IT-Infrastruktur E-Mail: emoenke@gwdg.de Tel.: +49 (0)551 201-1551 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen (GWDG) Am Fassberg 11, 37077 Göttingen URL: http://www.gwdg.de E-Mail: gwdg@gwdg.de Tel.: +49 (0)551 201-1510 Fax: +49 (0)551 201-2150 Geschäftsführer: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Neumair Aufsichtsratsvorsitzender: Prof. Dr. Christian Griesinger Sitz der Gesellschaft: Göttingen Registergericht: Göttingen Handelsregister-Nr. B 598 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eberhard Moenkeberg
[...] Guess what all the mirrors would have to do if they would take that brain-dead licence for serious...
Hopefully some brained person at SUSE/Novell is already on the way to clear this situation, or almost all the mirrors have to take some big delete action. Me too - i would never ask for permission in this case, but go the safe way.
I'm sure Michl and Coolo will discuss this on monday with our folks. This could be a topic for the next IRC meeting... The intend of the EULA is not to remove it from mirrors, Andreas -- Andreas Jaeger, Director Platform / openSUSE, aj@suse.de SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg) Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 Nürnberg, Germany GPG fingerprint = 93A3 365E CE47 B889 DF7F FED1 389A 563C C272 A126
Hi, On Friday 28 March 2008, Eberhard Moenkeberg wrote:
Hi,
On Sat, 29 Mar 2008, Volker Kuhlmann wrote:
On Sat 29 Mar 2008 01:23:12 NZDT +1300, Stephan Kulow wrote:
openSUSE is not under the GPL. It may be made out of GPL software, but still Novell holds all rights on the assembly of the product.
Ok. I still find it off-putting. Compare with the license of eg Codeweavers, who also spare a thought about the rights of their customers. And it's not thought very far - my spare time doesn't extend to obtaining written permission before giving copies to other testers, and sorry for not writing good bug reports but Novell doesn't allow me to disassemble the assembly to see where the problem might be.
And as we had the case before where german magazines put Alpha0 on a cover mount and say "OpenSUSE 11 is ready"
Staggering stupidity. Some journos are working hard to keep up their industry's image. Or was this a tactic of the competition to disrepute open source?
- there is no other chance to protect the openSUSE distribution than by its EULA.
I beg to differ, but rather keep bugzilla busy about a3 than argue this point.
And remember: this is the Pre-Release EULA.
This has no relevance to me I'm afraid.
Guess what all the mirrors would have to do if they would take that brain-dead licence for serious... Fortunately, they didn't. And they don't need to ask for permission as I in the name of Novell I allow all mirrors to distribute our openSUSE pre-release software incl. Factory.
Same time we are in touch with our legal department on how to allign the EULA. But I have to admit that such tasks are not done overnight. Best Michael
Hopefully some brained person at SUSE/Novell is already on the way to clear this situation, or almost all the mirrors have to take some big delete action. Me too - i would never ask for permission in this case, but go the safe way.
Viele Grüße Eberhard Mönkeberg (emoenke@gwdg.de, em@kki.org)
-- Michael Löffler, Product Management SUSE LINUX Products GmbH - Nürnberg - AG Nürnberg - HRB 16746 - GF: Markus Rex --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org
Greetings, I am promoting a box with OpenSUSE pre installed and for Corporates, get them to buy SLED/SLES. http://www.pc5e.fr As far as you know, I am doing the right thing? Best wishes, Jimmy --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org
"Jimmy PIERRE"
Greetings,
I am promoting a box with OpenSUSE pre installed and for Corporates, get them to buy SLED/SLES.
If this is a final openSUSE release - and not an alpha release, this should be fine.
As far as you know, I am doing the right thing?
Best wishes, Jimmy --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org
Andreas -- Andreas Jaeger, Director Platform / openSUSE, aj@suse.de SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg) Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 Nürnberg, Germany GPG fingerprint = 93A3 365E CE47 B889 DF7F FED1 389A 563C C272 A126
Volker Kuhlmann escribió:
THE SOFTWARE MAY NOT BE SOLD, TRANSFERRED, OR FURTHER DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION FROM NOVELL.
I wonder what e.g. the FSF has to say about that.
the FSF has nothing to say over something that is not licensed under a GNU license, this EULA is for the **assembly of the distribution**, which is collective work of Novell. Other distros also have similar EULAs. cheers, and rememeber that IANAL. -- “If debugging is the process of removing bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.” – Edsger Dijkstra Cristian Rodríguez R. Platform/OpenSUSE - Core Services SUSE LINUX Products GmbH Research & Development http://www.opensuse.org/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org
On Sat 29 Mar 2008 04:14:35 NZDT +1300, Cristian Rodríguez wrote:
Other distros also have similar EULAs.
Somehow I can not imagine Debian to concoct something like that.
cheers, and rememeber that IANAL.
Neither am I, so I go for "best effort" ;) Volker -- Volker Kuhlmann is list0570 with the domain in header http://volker.dnsalias.net/ Please do not CC list postings to me. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org
On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 8:13 AM, Volker Kuhlmann
Right at the start of the installation one is presented with a long piece of legalese, called the "Novell Pre-Release Software License Agreement", on the CD as EULA.txt.
This hole piece reads like Billy couldn't have written it better. I at least find that offensive. Without reading the rest of the drivel (I know what my rights under the GPL are, and the really good thing is, Novell can do nought about it), it says right at the start:
THE SOFTWARE MAY NOT BE SOLD, TRANSFERRED, OR FURTHER DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION FROM NOVELL.
I wonder what e.g. the FSF has to say about that.
As the "legal department" is pretty quick when it comes to what software can be included in openSUSE, can't they use their collective brains to come up with something that is fair, appropriate, or at least not in danger of attracting legal proceedings?
Volker
Well I'm further distributing it right here: http://voice4.netjdn.com/openSUSE-11.0-Alpha3-KDE-i386.iso On my SuSE Linux-powered server. Let's see how far this goes.... honestly I think that provision is total BS. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org
On Friday 28 March 2008 11:13:08 am Andreas van dem Helge wrote:
Well I'm further distributing it right here:
http://voice4.netjdn.com/openSUSE-11.0-Alpha3-KDE-i386.iso
On my SuSE Linux-powered server.
Let's see how far this goes.... honestly I think that provision is total
you are supposed to redistribute it. hence the reason there's a bittorrent version -- kai www.filesite.org || www.4thedadz.com || www.perfectreign.com remember - a turn signal is a statement, not a request --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org
participants (9)
-
Andreas Jaeger -
Andreas van dem Helge -
Cristian Rodríguez -
Eberhard Moenkeberg -
Jimmy PIERRE -
Kai Ponte -
Michael Loeffler -
Stephan Kulow -
Volker Kuhlmann