First, let me thank you for your rapid, professional and pertinent answer. It
helps all of us to understand more accurately the issue.
license-violation(a)fsf.org wrote:
> In general, these sorts of licenses apply only to the bits which are not
> under the GPL. In a typical Red Hat distro, this is mainly the Red Hat
> Network client (but please check carefully).
To my understanding, this contract covers all the RedHat product and services.
They seems to mix the two notions. At least, it is not explained what software
exactly is covered by the proposed agreement. For me, product means RedHat Linux
Enterprise (ES, AS or WS) and service means RedHatNetwork, but this is only my
perception of the issue. There is no explanation from their side. When I visit
their web site, I don't see any way to purchase a product without purchasing the
RHN service. And the contract they propose covers both, so I conclude it also
covers the product alone, even if I don't figure out up to now how to have the
product alone...
> Red Hat may price support at a per-pc price, and may generally make
> agreements which support this practice. Such agreements may say that
> Red Hat won't sell you support for 50 PCs if you in fact have 500 PCs
> running RH software.
I fully agree that they have freedom to sell services as well as softwares, even
free softwares, and that they have the freedom to price support on per CPU
basis, as example, and that they have the right to refuse me support for 50 CPUs
if I'm actually running 500 CPUs using the service, but as soon as the only way
to purchase the software is by purchasing the service, and the service bans your
right to install the software on supplementary CPUs (even if not using the
service from those supplementary CPUs), then the conditions of the GPL doesn't
seems met anymore to me... I have strong restrictions on my freedom to use the
software, which is by the way freedom N°0 from the definition of free
software...
"Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to _run_, copy, distribute,
study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it refers to four kinds
of freedom, for the users of the software:
* The freedom to _run_ the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
[...]
The freedom to use a program means the freedom for any kind of person or
organization to use it on any kind of computer system, for any kind of overall
job, and without being required to communicate subsequently with the developer
or any other specific entity."
More precisely, in the GPL that covers most of the GNU/Linux system, it is
explicitely told that: "You may not impose any further restrictions on the
recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.". I feel the obligation to
purchase a chargeable service for any supplementary CPU running the software
against this statement.
> You still have your full rights under the GPL -- but Red Hat may simply
> choose not to sell you support. This is probably what the RH rep meant
> when they said that you "weren't allowed" to copy the software.
They don't say I'm not allowed to copy the software, they explicitely say in
this agreement that in this case I MUST PURCHASE a supplementary subscription to
RHN, and that they even have the right to check once a year in my premises the
amount of RedHat products that are running... They also confirmed me that if I
elected to stop a subscription, I lost the right to run the software... Isn't
there something wrong ?
I think they should correct their wording, saying that any new installed station
SHOULD lead to the purchase of a supplementary subscription, or IS NOT ALLOWED
to be patched nor upgraded by use of the RHN provided services or patches.
The RedHat behaviour leads to declarations of high-tech leaders that says that
due to the support conditions imposed by "OpenSource" companies such as RedHat,
RedHat Linux is actually becoming proprietary software. I was shocked when I
heard this, and that's why I wished to check the exact licence conditions. I
slowly begins to conclude that indeed, through its mandatory and very
restrictive agreement conditions, the RedHat distribution does not meet anymore
the criterias imposed by the GPL, nor the very basic principles of Free
Software.
What are your conclusions about this ?
Thank you for your time.
--
Brent Frère
Private e-mail: Brent(a)BFrere.net
Postal address: 5, rue de Mamer
L-8280 Kehlen
Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
European Union
Mobile: +352-021/29.05.98
Fax: +352-26.30.05.96
Home: +352-307.341
URL: http://BFrere.net
In general, these sorts of licenses apply only to the bits which are not
under the GPL. In a typical Red Hat distro, this is mainly the Red Hat
Network client (but please check carefully).
Red Hat may price support at a per-pc price, and may generally make
agreements which support this practice. Such agreements may say that
Red Hat won't sell you support for 50 PCs if you in fact have 500 PCs
running RH software.
You still have your full rights under the GPL -- but Red Hat may simply
choose not to sell you support. This is probably what the RH rep meant
when they said that you "weren't allowed" to copy the software.
However, if you have specific information that this is not the meaning
of the license, please let me know.
--
-Dave "Novalis" Turner
GPL Compliance Engineer
Free Software Foundation
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Même si vous n'avez pas de voiture, vous pouvez
distribuer le message suivant à vos amis, pour une guerre des prix intelligente
contre les compagnies pétrolières....
On dit que le prix de l'essence va bientôt dépasser 1.50 Euros le litre... ! Vous
voulez que les prix baissent ? Il faut agir conjointement et solidairement.
Quelqu'un a suggéré une idée géniale, beaucoup plus sensée que celle qui nous demande
de ne pas acheter d'essence tel et tel jour, en avril ou mai dernier.
Les compagnies pétrolières ont bien ri de cette démarche parce qu'elles savaient que
nous ne pourrions pas continuer à NOUS faire du mal en refusant systématiquement
d'acheter de l'essence: c'était beaucoup plus un embêtement pour nous qu'un problème
pour elles.
Mais la proposition suivante pourrait s'avérer d'une efficacité redoutable, pour
autant qu'on l'applique de façon rigoureuse.
Prenez le temps de lire ce message au complet et joignez-vous à nous.
Les compagnies pétrolières et l'OPEP nous ont conditionnés à croire que le prix
qu'ils nous imposent est une très bonne affaire. Mais vous pensez probablement
qu'acheter l'essence aux environs de 58,9 cents le litre est une très bonne affaire.
Nous aussi !
Nous devons donc mener des actions résolues pour leur montrer que ce sont les
acheteurs et non les vendeurs qui contrôlent le marché. Vu la hausse quotidienne du
prix de l'essence, nous devons réagir en tant que consommateurs.
La seule façon de voir chuter les prix consiste à frapper le portefeuille des
compagnies pétrolières en n'achetant pas leur essence, mais sans que NOUS soyons les
premiers embêtés.
Or, étant donné que nous avons besoin de nos voitures, nous ne pouvons pas nous
permettre de faire la grève des achats d'essence.
Nous pouvons toutefois avoir un impact réel sur le marché de l'essence si nous
agissons tous ensemble dans cette guerre des prix.
Voici la proposition:
N'ACHETONS P! AS UNE G OUTTE D'ESSENCE AUX DEUX PLUS
IMPORTANTES COMPAGNIES PETROLIFERES (qui n'en font plus qu'une
maintenant): SHELL et ESSO.
Si elles ne vendent pas d'essence, elles seront obligées de réduire leurs prix.
Si elles réduisent leurs prix, les autres compagnies devront les suivre.
Mais pour créer un tel impact, nous devons obtenir la
coopération des millions de clients de SHELL et ESSO.
Le Net nous donne le moyen d'y arriver:
Ce message a été envoyé à une trentaine de personnes. Si chacune d'entre elles le
transmet à environ une dizaine de ses connaissances (30 x 10 = 300), que celles-ci
font la même chose (300 x 10 = 3000), et ainsi de suite, ce message aura atteint plus
de TRENTE MILLIONS de consommateurs à sa septième génération !
Tout ce que vous avez à faire c'est d'envoyer ce message dès aujourd'hui à 10
personnes en leur demandant de faire la même chose.
ET BIEN ENTENDU, EN PARALLELE, N'OUBLIEZ PAS DE BOYCOTTER SHELL ET ESSO.
C'est tout. Agissons ensemble pour faire la différence !
Si vous croyez pouvoir provoquer une différence sur le prix de l'essence, passez ce
message à vos connaissances.
ON N'A RIEN À PERDRE À ESSAYER !
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Here is a copy of an e-mail I just sent to FSF (legal matters) to have their
feed-back and potentially actions against realvnc.com if applicable.
I think they might legally do what they do because the code was initially made
by AT&T and might have been transfered to this company, so they didn't received
it under the GPL, so they can change their mind and "proprietise" it. But it is
however a good question to know what the FSF is able and ready to do about this
and also what legally happends to the work of the community, that collaborated
to the project under the GPL licence, and what protection the community has
against such rapt of community-produced free code...
The same could happend to OpenOffice, which is "owned" by Sun through the
StarOffice contribution, and to Mozilla, which is owned by AOL through the
Netscape contribution, and so on...
Let's see what will happend...
--
Brent Frère
Private e-mail: Brent(a)BFrere.net
Postal address: 5, rue de Mamer
L-8280 Kehlen
Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
European Union
Mobile: +352-021/29.05.98
Fax: +352-26.30.05.96
Home: +352-307.341
URL: http://BFrere.net
Hi,
you may be aware of the german iX magazine from Heise, a magazine
"for professional IT".
They are now testing the waters regarding an english version, called
"iX international" - check out http://www.ix.de/en/
This is to be distributed in PDF format via paid subscription.
The pilot issue is a free download.
As for the german version, I've got my own subscription. They often
have quite interesting themes. Since it's about "professional IT",
Unix/Linux themes appear quite often, though they also talk about
"those other systems".
Greetings, Eric
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It seems to be serious. If anyone is interested:
- ---
Subject:Job Posting for Google-Dublin, Ireland
From:"mdove" <mdove(a)google.com>
Date:Fri, 22 Oct 2004 16:56:12 -0700
To:<lilux-info(a)lilux.lu>
Hello Linux Experts from Luxembourg!
My name is Marianne Dove. Im a recruiter for Google. I am currently trying to
spread the word to all linux and unix experts that Google is currently hiring Linux
System Administrators and Engineers from around the globe to work at their Dublin,
Ireland site. I was wondering if it would be ok to post on your list. I have pasted
the 2 job descriptions below. We would greatly appreciate if you could notify your
members about these openings. If its not possible, I do understand. Thank you for
your consideration.
Sincerely,
Marianne Dove
Google Recruiter
Mountain View, California
650-623-6814
Site Reliability Engineer
Google
Location: Dublin, Ireland
- -We are looking for a detail-oriented systems professional, seasoned Unix jockey,
Internet services architect, database whiz, performance analyst, or software
engineer, at the top of their game.
- -Can you help achieve increased Availability, Reliability, Uptime, and Quality? (for
our systems and services, naturally) Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) are involved
in all aspects of running our site, from design to debug, from architecture to
applications. Google SREs spend their time troubleshooting problems in large-scale
clustered application service environments, and focus on making continual
improvements to our services.
- -Looking for the next cool problem to solve, in a fast-paced and engineering-driven
environment?
- -Can you write a script or application that performs practically the entire job you
once held earlier in your career?
- -Does your idea of a good time involve taking things apart just to see how they work?
Are you successful putting them back together when you're done?
- -This position requires a passion for problem solving, deep understanding of
networks, operating systems, multi-tiered Internet services, and the ability to learn
new applications and concepts quickly. Strong scripting skills are essential.
- -As an SRE, you will wear many hats: performance analyst, service architect,
system/database administrator, capacity planner, tools developer, monitoring expert,
and technical evangelist, for all components of Google's Ads services.
I will take the guess work out of whether or not you are a fit!!!
If you can answer yes to all of the following questions, you are a possible fit, so
please apply!
1. Do you have at least a BS or BA in computer science or a related technical
field or equivalent experience?
2. Do you have 3+ years of experience as a Unix/Linux Systems Administrator or
networking architecture experience?
3. Do you have experience in a high-volume or critical production service environment?
4. Do you have experience in Python programming or Perl or scripting?
5. Do you have excellent written and verbal communication skills?
Please be sure your resume clearly reflects the experience asked about above.
For immediate consideration, please send a word version of your resume to :
mdove(a)google.com
Important: The subject field of your email must include
Site Reliability Engineer - Dublin, Ireland
Site Reliability Manager -Google
Position based in Dublin, Ireland
We're looking for a highly technical, hands-on Engineering or Operations Manager to
lead a team of 4-10+ Google software engineers and sysadmins in Site Reliability.
Site Reliability teams are directly responsible for Google's stellar uptime record,
and act as the guardians and custodians of Google's user-visible services. In the
manager role, you will be responsible for ensuring that Google users can always reach
and use all of the services under your team's care.
Requirements:
~ * Very high technical competence and strong academic record.
~ * Currently holding a very senior or Director level role.
~ * 4+ years of relevant hands-on technical experience, and a record of individual
technical achievement.
~ * 3-10+ years of relevant experience managing software development and/or
operations teams.
~ * Strong project management skills, especially in deploying live end-user systems.
~ * That rare mix of intelligence, integrity, domain knowledge, verbal agility, and
diplomacy which allows you to rapidly earn the trust of technically-astute teams
across the company.
~ * BA/BS in CS preferred; MS / Ph.D. a plus.
For immediate consideration, please send a text (ASCII) or HTML version of your
resume to mdove(a)google.com Important: The subject field of your email must include
Site Reliability Manager Dublin, Ireland
- --
Thierry Coutelier Président LiLux asbl
7, Rue Jacques Sturm L-2556 Luxembourg
Office:+352 710725 608 Home:+352 406776
http://www.lilux.lu/
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Bonjour,
je vais bientot acheter un Shuttle pour mettre dans mon salon (à la
place de la télé :-) )
Est-ce que quelqu'un a déjà tenté l'expérience d'installer Linux sur
un Shuttle ? Si oui lequel et l'expérience a-t-elle été concluante ?
Je sais que MandrakeLinux avait un partenariat avec Shuttle pour MDK9.1
mais je n'ai plus rien vu venir depuis.
merci,
Fred
PS1 : le "meilleur" mini PC du marché http://sys.us.shuttle.com/
PS2 : guide mini PC : http://www.linternaute.com/guides/categorie/28//
Salut les gens...
Dexia BIL cherche des informaticiens...
il y aura en tout de l'ordre de 50 postes et ensuite, probablement plus
rien pour les 5 prochaines années...
donc... ca va être varié et c'est maintenant ou jamais
voir sur leur site
Note: oui, j'y travaille et oui, j'ai des actions (plan salarié) :-))
pour le reste, it's your life
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Serge Marelli, Luxembourg
E-mail : serge.marelli(a)linux.lu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
LiLux - http://www.lilux.lu/
Defending Innovation against Patent Inflation http://swpat.ffii.org/
Free Software Foundation - http//www.fsf.org/
Hello,
Juste une petite question:
Apres avoir lu l'article "Mir schwetzen lëtzebuergesch!" dans PaperJam
http://www.paperjam.lu/c/articles/9990.html, je me suis demandé où en
était-t-on pour Linux? Une recherche vite-fait sur google ne révèle rien....
Y a-t-il une distrib' qui permette d'avoir l'interface en langue
luxembourgeoise? Ca serait sympa d'avoir ça dans les lycées par exemple
(associé au projet de www.lll.lu)?
Aussi au salon SIExpo j'aurais bien vu une rangée de Knoppix( ou du moins
quelques postes) en luxembourgeois pex, même si pas tout le monde pourrait
s'en servir ...
Ca serait une méthode comme une autre de promouvoir Linux, no?
Microsoft s'en servira sûrement pour gagner des part de marchée au GDL alors
pourquoi ne pas faire de même?
BTW, l'article sur OO non mentionné dans mon dernier post est ici:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1676737,00.asp
Bon WE,
Paulo