[SC.LUG] So, are RedHat ditching the home user market?

[Mike Stuart]

On Monday 03 November 2003 22:00, Ian Molton wrote:
> No it isnt.

OK, It was never my intention to start any sort of flame war!

The kind of thing I'm on about is this:

RedHat have been and probably will continue to be a quality source of 
innovation for Linux. However the same company has sections like this in its 
service agreement for RHEL:

4. REPORTING AND AUDIT. If Customer wishes to increase the number of Installed 
System, then Customer will purchase from Red Hat additional Services for each 
additional Installed System. During the term of this Agreement and for one 
(1) year thereafter, Customer expressly grants to Red Hat the right to audit 
Customer's facilities and records from time to time in order to verify 
Customer's compliance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement. Any 
such audit shall only take place during Customer's normal business hours and 
upon no less than ten (10) days prior written notice from Red Hat. Red Hat 
shall conduct no more than one such audit in any twelve-month period except 
for the express purpose of assuring compliance by Customer where 
non-compliance has been established in a prior audit. Red Hat shall give 
Customer written notice of any non-compliance, and if a payment deficiency 
exists, then Customer shall have fifteen (15) days from the date of such 
notice to make payment to Red Hat for any payment deficiency. The amount of 
the payment deficiency will be determined by multiplying the number of 
underreported Installed Systems or Services by the annual fee for such item. 
If Customer is found to have underreported the number of Installed Systems or 
amount of Services by more than five percent (5%), Customer shall, in 
addition to the annual fee for such item, pay liquidated damages equal to 
twenty percent (20%) of the underreported fees for loss of income and 
administration costs suffered by Red Hat as a result.

In other words, you must buy an RHN subscription for each system installed 
with RHEL3 or else!  How does that work with getting the GPL source for each 
component that comprises RHEL and building a clone yourself? I think these 
are murky waters.

The full text is available at
http://www.redhat.com/licenses/rhel_us_3.html

If that is not a reasonable example of what I was meaning by "double edged 
sword" then I am unclear as to what is!

-- 
Mike Stuart.