Conversion to Linux

[Luke Dashjr]

On Monday 03 November 2008 11:36:55 am Christofer C. Bell wrote:
> My own reason for being "up in the air" about CentOS is that I don't care
> for Red Hat's distribution model.  While it's perfectly "legal" for them to
> refuse to provide their distribution freely to users who have not purchased
> a support contract, and certainly fits in the "letter" of the GPL, I think
> it's wrong.  In order to receive Red Hat's enhancements to GPL software
> directly from Red Hat, I'm *required* to pay for a support contract.
>
> The "letter" of the GPL is only that I'm allowed source code to binaries I
> receive.  The spirit of the GPL, in my view, is that they distribute
> binaries they have enhanced (in whatever form that distribution takes
> place), and they are free to ask for money for access to them -- I feel
> those binaries should also be provided freely (ie; if distribution of
> binaries takes place, it should also take place in a form that is free).
> Obviously they already provide free source code.

Richard Stallman has always supported charging for Free software. RedHat would 
be in line with the "spirit" of the GPL (according to Stallman) if they 
charged for their enhancements *and didn't provide any support still*.