[Gllug] GPL & Licence Fees

[Richard Jones]

On Sat, Nov 10, 2007 at 10:50:48PM +0000, Ken Smith wrote:
> I came across a linux based firewall at a client that appeared to be a
> cut down Debian like configuration. The client is being charged an 
> annual licence fee for this firewall. Is this legit?

This is of course precisely the model that Red Hat use.  You can get
one of the RHEL clones (eg. CentOS, Scientific Linux) for free and
install it and use it how you like, but if you want our support you
pay us an annual fee.

> I would understand a one off fee for setting it up but an annual licence 
>  feel seems rather heavy.

There's nothing in the GPL that says anything about how the software
is charged.  On the other hand, I would expect that if they are paying
an annual fee then they should be getting some sort of support service
and/or renting the hardware.  If they own the hardware and they're
getting no support on the firewall, I'd advise them not to continue
paying!

Rich.

-- 
Richard Jones
Red Hat
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