Is it illegal to buy copied Suse dvd pro version from ebay?
 

Hello guys,

I just wanna clear some of my doubts. I saw some people selling Suse dvd 9.0 pro in ebay. They actually copied it from origanal dvd. They are also selling versions like this. Is it illegal to buy and use those dvds or cds. I thought linux is completely free to use. I know that linux is just the kernel and all other programs are from gnu thingy. Thanks in advance

the collection of programs can be copyrighted by SuSE, and individual programs on the dvd may not be gnu at all. there are probably several programs on the dvd that are not free to distribute.
copyright is mostly a right to distribute, so it's mostly the seller who is doing something illegal.
most software is covered by a license to use or install the software, so if you purchase the dvd, and the seller does not have a right to transfer a license to you, then you do not have a right to install or use the software. so perhaps you could sue the seller for the failure to transfer good title to a license, because he doesn't have title to a license.
oh hell. that's just a guess.

ok thank u very much. I have another doubt. Is it illegal to split dvd to cds. Imagine that i bought a Suse 9.1 pro boxed version from a shop and it doesn't have cds just dvds. So if i need to install it in a pc which doesn't have a dvd drive and i am spliting dvd into 5 cds just for the sake of installation. I bought the OS and i am just trying to install in another way. But i am not selling those cds. What about that? Is it still illegal? Are we allowed to install SuSE in more than one pc? Thanks for ur effort.

splitting to cd's is fair use. more than one pc depends on the license.

edit: sorry i just noticed you were in london. i have no idea what the law is there.

It is totally OK to install SuSE on more than one PC from a single installation medium. You are also allowed to split the DVD. In older licences it was even allowed to give CD's away for free, but I think this depends on the commercial software that is included. The only thing that is definitely not allowed, is to sell the copies.

Hi,

It is legel to install SuSE-Linux on as many machines as you like.

I think it is illegal to sell copys of the media (CDs/DVDs) because there are programms on them that require a propper licence.
On the other hand you are buying more than just the CDs/DVDs from SuSE. I bought them because they offer 90(60?) days of phonesupport and very good manuals, which would otherwise cost almost as much as the whole SuSE-Package. (Kofler: Linux (German) 60 Euro vs. SuSE Linux Student Edition 59 Euro) By the way I suggest to buy a good book *in addition* to SuSE Linux. ;-)

SuSE itself offers a downloadable almost complete version of their distribution some time (one or two month) after publishing the box version. But sorry, no DVD-images. There is a ISO-CD-image for a install CD to boot from and install over FTP, NFS or local copy of the packages.
I am waiting impatiantly for the FTP-version. 8-)


Nice Weekend

Pollyanna

Thanks. So suse's copyright policies are different from others like slackware and fedora(they both offer cd iso images). Then wat about creating iso images from dvd or cds and sharing with others. Which doesn't invole in any kind of money transfers. Is it illegal? (i bet it is illegal). And is there any difference between students package and normal ones(i am talking about suse professional versions). Thanks alot.

Buy SuSE Linux
 

Hi cyto,

well, I do not think the policies are *that* different. I think no one was ever sued of SuSE for sharing (non selling!) copied CD/DVDs among friends. I once read this would be legal, but I am not quite convinced about this point. ;-)

Speaking of policies: Slackware till 9.1 did not *sell* the same version (4 CDs) that was available as ISO-images (1 to 2 CDs). And Fedora is no player in the "end user business" any more: they, to my knowled, announced the end of selling boxes with "Redhat" or "Fedora" written on it.
Wheras SuSE is a commercial vendor making a profit by selling its product to the end user (and is paying for the develpement of open source(!) projects like ReiserFS, K3B, and some more).

There are three versions of SuSE-Linux which are *exactly the same* regarding the Software. The only difference is in the supplied Manuals.
1. Professional, 90 Euro, Admin-Manual + User-Manual
2. Student, 60 Euro, *exatly* the same as Professional
3. Update, 60 Euo, only Adminmanual (possibly an "Update-Manual")
There is no "Personal Edition" any more.

*All* manuals are supplied as PDF-File with *all* versions, even the FTP-edition!

The Update-version can be used with *any* ever purchased (registration is not nesseccary) version of SuSE-Linux. Even version 6.x for 1 Pound at ebay. ;-)

The Student-version is sold to students, teachers, pensioners and unemployed persons (and in Germany: on military duty or alternate civilian service).
In Germany an academic mail account is proof enought for ordering the Student-version. 8-)

I strongly encourage to *buy* SuSE-Linux (DVD+CD+Books+Support!), but the free (as in beer) FTP-version (SuSE 9.1) is about 4 GB (with sources about 8 GB) and supplies all *free* (as in speech) packages of SuSE-Linux, including the manuals as PDF-file.
The difference in Software is about the *demo* of MainActor 5.2, a Backup programm, and ... (don`t know).
So if you do not want to pay, please use this one and not copied CDs/DVDs from ebay. Why pay thieves if you can have it for free?
The FTP-version should be out soon. 8-)

Hey, why am I not *paid* for advertising SuSE Linux? ;-)


Waiting for the FTP-version

Pollyanna

The issue here is that the three versions are not exactly the same. There is proprietary software included with the Professional version that is not included with the free, FTP version. Novell opened up YAST, but not every bit of other software on the Pro Version.

Can this person supply a unique registration number for this version? I'm guessing not, which according to Suse then, is piracy. (http://www.novell.com/programs/piracy/factsht.html)

Novell pulled copies off of Ebay shortly after they acquired Suse. I remember reading about this somewhere online, though I cannot find the link now. They specifically prohibited "unlicensed copies." Now this may be because money was changing hands, which they do not want.

Before you open up a "free" download link, I'd at least be wise enough to make sure what you're doing is legal and doable in the eyes of Novell.

Hi JSpired

sorry, but I think You missed one of the points.

The three versions *for sale* by Novell share *all* the same CDs/DVDs. The only difference is in the price (and maybe a part of the manuals).

The ftp-version is stripped of *a few* packages, which are not free/shareware/...

I use the ftp-version of "SuSE 9.1" and never missed what was removed by SuSE. 8-)
The things I *did* miss where left out even in the "for-sale-version" I downloaded from http://packman.links2linux.de. 8-)

I am sure suppling diskimages via the internet is *not a good idea*, while sharing one ore two disks among close friends is at least tolerated. (Where ist no prosecutor, there is no judge.)


Peacefull New Year

Pollyanna

hi;
got a question that is somewhat related:
If I bought the cd from Suse/Novell, would I suffer as much from dependency resolution? is there more to the pay version than the iso download?
I have tried to figure this out on my own, but I would love to hear from someone who knows already.
Cheerz.
G.

Just in case you didn't know, under any mirror ftp server in the 9.2 directory there is readme that states 9.2 ftp will be available in January 2005, so its not too far down the road.