[PLUG] Question about companies and open source applications

[Arun Khan]

On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 11:36 PM, Nikhil Karkare
<nikhil.karkare at myshala.com> wrote:
> Sankarshan,
> By "mention", I mean both, in writing, as well as in their pitch. Only upon
> telling them that I already have their "software", they claim that they
> don't know much about the OS and Open Source and all that, and will get back
> to me. Of course, they don't.
>
> I am not talking about even customization of FOSS. They sell software just
> out of the box.

Please avoid top posting and trim your quotes.  People interested in
any topic can follow the discussion as the messages are threaded.
PLUG has it's own guidelines plus you can refer to
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style>.

As for selling FOSS software, I believe the licenses allow you to sell
it for a reasonable price.  Back in the days of dial up Internet, I
used buy copies of distros from www.CheapBytes.com.  There are other
similar companies all over the world.

<IANAL>
 -- In general, on the customization aspect, they should respect the
lic. of the original author.   They should  disclose the source (just
as all the distros do)  and give the source to their customization if
the original lic. requires them to do so.   Otherwise they are in
violation and open to litigation/prosecution.

As you may be aware a lot of the embedded devices (Linux based) use
busybox in their firmware.  FSF has filed suits against big MNCs who
have not abided by the busybox lic. terms and won the cases.

Something similar may be appropriate in case you have evidence to back
up your statements.

</IANAL>

-- Arun Khan