[gentoo-user] Is Gentoo on the Sales block?

[gentoo-user] Is Gentoo on the Sales block?

[James]

I only ask because Sun just paid
a billion dollars for MySQL....

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/16/sun-mysql_1.html

How is it that Open Source is for sale?

GPL?


Is gentoo next?


James



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Re: [gentoo-user] Is Gentoo on the Sales block?

[kashani]

James wrote:
> I only ask because Sun just paid
> a billion dollars for MySQL....
> 
> http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/16/sun-mysql_1.html
> 
> How is it that Open Source is for sale?
> 
> GPL?

Dual license.
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Re: [gentoo-user] Is Gentoo on the Sales block?

[felix]

On Wed, Jan 16, 2008 at 11:47:04PM +0000, James wrote:
> 
> I only ask because Sun just paid
> a billion dollars for MySQL....

Sun paid a billion dollars for the COMPANY which owns the copyright to
MySQL.  Someone controls Gentoo, be it the foundation (which may or
may not actually exist at the moment) or who knows who.  If those
people, or the foundation, want to "sell" Gentoo, I reckon they could,
but they would get only the name and a few servers.  No doubt everyone
else would merely fork the GPL'd sources and keep on going.

MySQL is also GPL, but most of the development is paid for by the
for-profit company which Sun just bought, so a fork is unlikely.

> How is it that Open Source is for sale?

Open Source is not for sale and was not sold, neither is GPL'd Free
Software.  Someone could no doubt buy some FLOSS copyrights from the
owners, but the GPL'd versions would still be out there and not for
sale; someone who wanted to "buy" already released sources would have
to buy up every public copy and every copy ever downloaded, and sign
the "sellers" (if they can even be called that) to promise to wipe
their drives.  They would, literally, have to buy every copy on the
planet, whether on current computers, backups, books, it would not
matter.

You need to read the GPL, the BSD license, the Perl Artistic license,
etc, and stop panicing.  Once released, FLOSS cannot be recalled.  The
copyrights can be bought, but the previously released versions are
still out there under their FLOSS license and could only be recalled
by that massive buyback I described, which could charitably be called
less realistic than a snowball fight in Hell.

-- 
            ... _._. ._ ._. . _._. ._. ___ .__ ._. . .__. ._ .. ._.
     Felix Finch: scarecrow repairman & rocket surgeon / felix@crowfix.com
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Re: [gentoo-user] Is Gentoo on the Sales block?

[Brian Marshall]

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On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 23:47:04 +0000 (UTC)
James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:

> 
> I only ask because Sun just paid
> a billion dollars for MySQL....
> 
> http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/16/sun-mysql_1.html
> 
> How is it that Open Source is for sale?
MySQL is a company.

> 
> Is gentoo next?
Gentoo no longer exists legally, so I wouldn't worry. ;)


	Brian

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[gentoo-user] Re: Is Gentoo on the Sales block?

[Grant Edwards]

On 2008-01-17, Brian Marshall <snail@beyondboredom.net> wrote:

> Gentoo no longer exists legally, so I wouldn't worry. ;)

It exists illegally?  

On my computers?

I'm an outlaw!  

This is more exciting that I thought...

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  Thank god!!... It's
                                  at               HENNY YOUNGMAN!!
                               visi.com            

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Is Gentoo on the Sales block?

[Peter Humphrey]

On Thursday 17 January 2008 05:08:56 Grant Edwards wrote:
> On 2008-01-17, Brian Marshall <snail@beyondboredom.net> wrote:
> > Gentoo no longer exists legally, so I wouldn't worry. ;)
>
> It exists illegally?
>
> On my computers?
>
> I'm an outlaw!
>
> This is more exciting that I thought...

No, Brian said it doesn't exist "legally", which is not the same thing 
as "lawfully".

Properly, "legally" means "in law", whereas the word for "in compliance with 
a law" is "lawfully". Of course things change, and nearly always for the 
worse, so such niceties become mere memories.

-- 
Rgds
Peter
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[gentoo-user] Re: Is Gentoo on the Sales block?

[Michael Schmarck]

James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:

> 
> I only ask because Sun just paid
> a billion dollars for MySQL....
> 
> http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/16/sun-mysql_1.html
> 
> How is it that Open Source is for sale?

What do you mean with that? Sun bought MySQL AB, a company
in Sweden (or that's where they originally were located).
Most of the work in the OS MySQL database is sponsored by
MySQL AB.

> GPL?

A license. What about it?

42 °C.

> Is gentoo next?

No. There's nothing you can buy.

Michael

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Re: [gentoo-user] Is Gentoo on the Sales block?

[Alan McKinnon]

On Thursday 17 January 2008, James wrote:
> I only ask because Sun just paid
> a billion dollars for MySQL....
>
> http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/16/sun-mysql_1.html
>
> How is it that Open Source is for sale?

It's not. MySQL (the company) is for sale and Sun buys the customer 
base.

> GPL?

Yeah, what does this mean? MySQL's software is distributed under the 
terms of the GPL as an open source product. They have a more 
restrictive license for their super-duper products that isn't GPL. 
Doesn't affect ownership of the business in any way.

> Is gentoo next?
>
>
> James



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Alan McKinnon
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com
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Re: [gentoo-user] Is Gentoo on the Sales block?

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:49:43 +0200, Alan McKinnon wrote:

> Yeah, what does this mean? MySQL's software is distributed under the 
> terms of the GPL as an open source product. They have a more 
> restrictive license for their super-duper products that isn't GPL. 

The also sell MySQL under another licence, for companies that want to use
it in a closed source package.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Welcome to the world of Windows Vista. Stay a while -- stay foooreveeer.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Is Gentoo on the Sales block?

[Kristian Poul Herkild]

James skrev:
> I only ask because Sun just paid
> a billion dollars for MySQL....
> 
> http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/16/sun-mysql_1.html
> 
> How is it that Open Source is for sale?
> 
> GPL?
> 
> 
> Is gentoo next?
> 
> 
> James
> 
> 
> 

FLOSS != Gratis. There is no problem in buying either Open Source or
Free Software. FLOSS is not against Capitalism you know. It is merely
against MS EULA's ;)

-kristian herkild
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