Subj : Linspire 5.0
To   : MARTIN ATKINS
From : CHARLES ANGELICH
Date : Sat Sep 17 2005 12:01 am

123c77bd2253
win95



Hello Martin - 

CA>>> When a poor man steals it might be that there is no
CA>>> justice in the land. When a man who is _not_ poor steals
CA>>> it is always because there is no justice in the man. 

--8<--cut 

--8<--cut 

MA> I am no expert but coming from a DOS/Win background i do
MA> believe i understand the difficulties involved in starting
MA> on the road to Linux. 

89.9% (allowing for Apple users) of all people who have used
personal computers for more than just a few years have come
"from a DOS/Win background". 


--8<--cut 

"CS>>> 2. Obtaining and installing software. 

CS>>> If anyone is interested, I can show them how to legally
CS>>> overcome 2 above without using the pay service. Either
CS>>> send me email or post a question to me in the Linux echo." 

CA>> Sure sounds like offering assistance to avoid paying any
CA>> monies to Linspire even though it is one of the ways
CA>> Linspire tries to make a few pesos. If I could find a way
CA>> to stop YOUR paychecks and offer it as 'advice' here on
CA>> FIDO you'd chant a different mantra I suspect? 

MA> For a start Charles Scaglione is offering to help Obtaining
MA> and installing software and in the next line he states he
MA> will show them how to do it legally. 

The 'offer' follows closely on the heels of a flurry of
discussion about Linspire offering free downloads of the
OS. The timing if also a factor. Lack of any appreciation
whatsoever?

MA> This is not unusual in the open source world. Let's for the
MA> time being assume Linspire is entirely open source, then
MA> all they have done is bundle other peoples hard work at no
MA> cost to them other than time. 

I recall mention that the Linspire version of wine did a better
job of executing Windows software but have heard next to
nothing about that for some time now. AFAIK Linspire involved
some 'customization' prior to it's release. 

MA> Some would accuse them of being nothing more than parasites. 

Those who accepted the offer of a free copy of the Linspire OS
then began lusting after more free software seem more parasitic
to me than Linspire does. None of these people have contributed
anything to opensource linux, they just want to collect as much
of it as they can get for free. 

MA> This is not my view. I do not believe that making money
MA> from bundling is immoral. Mandriva, Redhat, Suse and others
MA> do it. I say more power to them if it makes Linux more
MA> usable to the general public but if they do that they must
MA> play by the open source rules or get out the game. 

MA> I do not receive my pay check by piggy backing off the free
MA> labour of others. 

Odd thing is, the person making the 'offer' _does_ do just that
for his 'paycheck'.

MA> I would be interested to know if Linspire has a licensing
MA> clause with their public release. Linspire has already been
MA> in hot water when it came to grief with Microsoft as
MA> Lindows. Seems they have no moral scruples when it comes to
MA> free loading of anothers name. :-} 

I don't consider squabbling with M$ over a portion of their
name has a great deal of relevance. For me, it made M$ seem
petty. 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>     <|                              |>  __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

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.... The lesser of two evils - is evil.
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