Is Linspire totally GPL licensed?
 

Is Linspire totally GPL licensed?

It states that "part" of linspire is GPL

So is Linspire totally GPL licensed?
If linspire is not totally gpl licensed, do they have the right to include the GPL part?

Re: Is Linspire totally GPL licensed?
 

No- Linspire is not completely GPL'd

Yes- They can include the GPL'd part. It's no different then installing non-GPL'd software on Linux or installing GPL'd software on Windows. It's not against the License. If your wondering what is and isn't GPL'd in Linspire, everything that is normal for a Linux distro, like the kernel, KDE, etc. is GPL'd. Anything that is a cool feature Linspire added, like the software for their Click'N'Run Repository isn't.

Also all the software in the Click'N'Run repository is Open-Source, but you have to pay a monthly fee to Linspire for it because they package it all up into an easy to install package.

For anyone not knowing what the GPL is, it's (probably) the most commonly used Open-Source License. It stands for the GNU/GPL or GNU General Public License. However it isn't the only one. If you have an interest in Open-Source, Law, or want to see if there's a better open-source license out there for your project besides the GNU/GPL check out the Open Source Initiative. If I remember correctly I believe they have somewhere around 50 Open Source Licenses.

PS for future reference, this kind of post should go in the straight general a few forums down. The Linux-General area is mostly for problems that don't have a designated forum or cover several areas.

Guess I was wrong

Hey Zuggy, that's the first step towards having an open mind on open source. Really!

We can all learn from each other as long as we aren't shot down by a barrage of ballistic stuff.

Now, SuSE is a proprietory OS like Linspire, though it has been going longer than Linspire (or Lindows, the predecessor to Linspire).

Novell bought SuSE and has notified it is going to make the YaST installer open source. That is wonderful news.

However, they don't have to do that.

Linspire's own engineers, employed by them, have developed several very handy applications and utilities. Some of these are being open-sourced.

The biggie, Click-n-Run isn't, perhaps mainly because that is what sets them apart from other flavours of Linux.

There is absolutely nothing in the GPL which makes it unlawful to package whatever you want into a distribution. And then sell it. Or give it away. Or whatever.

Whatever you package that is GPL has to have the source available to you, should you want it.

In Linspire's case they don't force you to download an extra ISO with the source on it - it is optional.

Choice. Your choice. That is what Linux is all about, after all. Their website tells you where to find it, and download it, if you need it.