[NTLUG:Discuss] Re: Novell SuSe DVD's... -- SLSS/SLES very much "value add"

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Sat, 2004-09-11 at 10:45, MadHat wrote:
> It is the same license as the downloaded copy.  It does not come with 
> support, but you can "register" it online.

The SuSE Linux Standard/Enterprise Server releases in the Novell kit are
"evaluation" and _not_ legal for production use.  Read the license.

As far as the SuSE Linux Personal/Professional versions, like most
commercial distributions outside of Red Hat Linux prior, you could not
redistribute them -- except in whole in most cases (and sometimes not
even then).  Novell has GPL'd more and more of SuSE Linux, to the point
that it's starting to become a base for other distributions.

But unlike Red Hat prior to 2002, and like Red Hat after 2002, SuSE
enforces their trademark.  So even Sun has to change the trademarks in
its release (unless they have negotiated a license with Novell to the
contrary).**

> I am not sure where you read it is "_not_ licensed for free use",
> but it is the same as what can be downloaded, on most of it anyway,
> so I am not sure how the licensing is different.

SuSE Linux Standard/Enterprise Server is _not_ "freely" downloadable. 
At the _most_ you can download "evaluation" copies.  SLSS/SLES includes
_value-added_, _non-redistributable_ code.

As far as The SuSE Linux Personal releases, I'm not sure where Novell is
in GPL'ing a lot, but I know that the GPL'ing of YaST really helped turn
it into a [near?] 100% redistributable version.  I've been watching
Novell in how they handle it.  Because if SL becomes popular as a "base"
for other distros, I'm interested in seeing how they address it like Red
Hat had to (which eventually resulted in Fedora).

SuSE Linux Professional still seems to include non-100% redistributable
components as "value-add."  That's what you pay extra for.

> Also I have read all the readme's and docs included and I could find
> no such statement as "_not_ licensed for free use".

Most commercial distros _include_ non-100% redistributable components. 
You have to identify those on your own time in most cases.

> Can you help me find these details about how it is "_not_ licensed for
> free use" so I do not use it improperly?

Read up on Novell/SuSE's site.  I received the prior SLSS 8 / Novell kit
and hear _directly_ from IBM-Novell that it was a non-expiring
"evaluation" copy.  They were pretty "clear" about it, because a lot of
people in the room were new to Linux (it wasn't "free," just an "eval").

I also downloaded the SLES 9 release in .iso form, and it has the "30
(or was it 60/90?) day trial" tag on it.

-- Bryan

**NOTE:  One of the things that pissed Red Hat off the most was big
vendors like Sun modifying Red Hat Linux and not even changing the
logos, resulting in massive support calls (remember, Sun owns Cobalt and
a lot of other Linux platforms).  Even eWeek was reporting this was a
serious issue for Red Hat at the time.  They were already being hit by a
lot prior, simply because Red Hat Linux was such a popular base for most
new distributions, large and small.

And what did Red Hat get in return for trying to avoid this?  They got
people challenging the USPTO to remove their trademark on "Red Hat(R),"
because they allowed people to freely redistribute and modify Red Hat(R)
Linux for so many years.  And the rest is anti-Red Hat history.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                  b.j.smith at ieee.org 
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