From: u1086aa@unx.ucc.okstate.edu (11086) Subject: Re: School Science Club may distribute Linux...interested? Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1993 21:31:02 GMT
In article <CDvGI7.8t@acsu.buffalo.edu> ferrick@acsu.buffalo.edu (Patrick K. Ferrick) writes:
>I'm posting this as a sort of a "test balloon"...!
>
>Our high school science club may distribute Linux on floppies as a means of
>raising money for projects. What we're thinking of is that instead of buying
>the floppies from us, people might be interested in renting the disks (in
>order to make copies of them) at a low rate. Something like this:
>
>You send them $40, and they mail you the base distribution of the most recent
>Slackware package. You copy the disks, and mail them back in a prepaid box
>of some sort, within say two weeks, and they refund $20. Ie. you get Linux
>for $20. Other parts of the dist would also be made available, as might be
>other packages if the response is good.
I'm not sure this is legal under the GPL. My understanding of the GPL
(which could easily be incorrect) is that you may charge a reasonable
media fee to distribute GPL'd software, but not charge a fee for the
software itself. Under your scheme, the customer does not keep the media,
so the fee is for the software itself.
I have taken the liberty of cross-posting this to gnu.misc.discuss so
the GPL experts can have a look at this. Is this a violation of the GPL?
(I'm willing to risk shooting off my mouth about things I don't
understand fully in order to possibly help a science club avoid
accidentally violating a software license. Flames will be duly
considered.)
==========
My opinions are my own
Jim West
Associate Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Oklahoma State University
jwest@jwest.ecen.okstate.edu
>
>If you'd like to get Linux cheap, and help out a relatively worthy cause,
>could you please drop me some email? (I'm the advisor to the science club,
>in case that isn't obvious!)
>
>thanks,
>pat ferrick
>Town of Webb School
>Old Forge, NY
>
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