Harmut, Could you please point me to the legal sources of your statements listed below. In the link you've provided there is nothing said that you can't use SuSE distribution as a back end for your commercial software. I don't believe that SUSE is paying to all the developers whose GPL applications you're binding with your distribution. Therefore, how in legal terms you can impose any limitations or restrictions on people who use SUSE distribution for whatever business purposes? Isn't it a contradiction to GPL? Regards, Alex
To give away copies of SUSE LINUX for free is actually fine, but as
soon as
money starts entering the scene it becomes difficult.
As you say yourself: you *need* something as a base or back-end for your product which you want to sell (and earn money). So the back-end or whatever you would call it would actually be part of the solution that you offer to your customers.
Another example of what would *not* be ok: you might be selling hardware. Selling a computer and having SUSE LINUX installed as a goodie for your customers (or even just as a teaser in order to show them an alternative to the pirate copy of Windows that they otherwise would likely install on their just bought computer) would not be ok.
Anything where it's not obvious that you *don't* earn money by distributing SUSE LINUX needs special agreement.
You might want to check our partner programm or consider enquiring about the possibility to use SUSE LINUX as an OEM product.
For our partner program please check:
http://www.suse.com/us/partner/become_partner/index.html
Greetings from Bremen hartmut