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On Sun, Nov 25, 2007 at 06:26:39PM +0000, Simon Robert wrote: > Adrian Midgley wrote: > > Simon Waters wrote: > > > >> The author hasn't established (as far as I can tell) that a GPL > >> violation is happening. > >> > >> The author had not contacted them to ask for code, there is nothing in > >> the GNU GPL v2 that says that you have to put code on a website for free > >> download, just that you have to make it available when it is requested > >> > > Concur. > > > > Yeah well here is a bit of FUD about assus maybe not complying with the > letter of the GPL, though they seem to comply with its spirit albiet a bit > confusedly and linux users the world over rush to the blogosphere saying > ain't gonna buy that cos someone said it might be slightly un gpl'd. What > better way to persuade a company that the easiest thing to do is ship the > product with a cutdown XP! Maybe we should think about who puts this stuff > out and why? If I ran MS I'd have a department puting out this stuff so > influential OSS uers came down heavy on a new potentualy massive linux based > piece of hardware. Don't cut your ideological nose off to spite your > idieological face. I've ordered one and hope to be a happy gizmo user come > December 3rd. I That's true, if it is FUD; on the other hand, if it really is infringing then it could also cause massive problems for the community. If it becomes popular, which looks likely given the reaction to it over the last week or two, then there'll be many thousands of GPL-infringing laptops sold, when usually (I suspect) most violations are on a much smaller scale. Whilst it's a good thing that companies are starting to ship end-user machines with GNU/Linux preinstalled, doing so without complying with the licences is not only no better than only shipping Windows, it's worse as it runs counter to the main aim of free software. -- Benjamin A'Lee :: benjamin.alee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subvert Technologies :: http://subvert.org.uk/
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