<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Gregory Zysk</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gmzysk@fedoraproject.org">gmzysk@fedoraproject.org</a>></span><br>
Date: Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 2:22 PM<br>Subject: Re: Ubuntu's not GNU/Linux?<br>To: Sam Tuke <<a href="mailto:mail@samtuke.com">mail@samtuke.com</a>><br><br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="im">On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 2:11 PM, Sam Tuke <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mail@samtuke.com" target="_blank">mail@samtuke.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
I find it hard to believe that it is a licensing issue - many other commercial distributions mention Linux repeatedly on their websites (Suse, RHEL, Mandriva...), and if it were because of this then why would they be able to put it on other pages, and just not the front page?<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div></div><div>It is a licensing issue when they cannot ship their distro and all of its parts under the GNU/GPL. Certain proprietary components are not free to modify and distribute unless cleared through the vendor and in the case of flash that would be Adobe. </div>
<div class="im">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
Linux is a trademark (and I've gone through the sub-licensing process of it myself), but there is nothing stopping companies referencing it - "based on Linux", "a version of Linux" etc. are all acceptable references to the term.<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div></div><div>I do not see the argument here. Linux as a product is different than that of the GNU philosophy. </div><div class="im"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
Also GNU's opinion isn't relevant to Ubuntu's ability to refer to Linux as far as I can see - they have no rights to the word or its application; what power could they have to prevent an organisation from using it?<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div></div><div>There is nothing preventing Canonical from building an operating system off of the linux kernel. Many companies do that. </div><div class="im"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
I'm not aware of any good reason for Ubuntu hiding the fact that its based on GNU/Linux.<br></blockquote><div><br></div></div><div>I do not think that they are trying to hide it personally, I believe that Hugo's comment was right in the fact that they are trying to differentiate themselves in the market rather than being another linux distro. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Greg </div><div class="im"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div><br>
> Sam,<br>
><br>
> That is because they can't. It is about licensing. They ship non-free or<br>
> proprietary software with their distribution, such as Flash which prohibits<br>
> them from adhering to the 4 freedoms of the GNU philosophy. You can find<br>
> GNU's own stance on Ubuntu<br>
</div>> here.<<a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/common-distros.html" target="_blank">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/common-distros.html</a>><br>
><br>
> Gregory<br>
</blockquote></div></div><br><br clear="all"><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>-- <br>Title: Fedora Ambassador Netherlands<br>User Homepage: <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Gmzysk" target="_blank">https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Gmzysk</a><br>
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</div></div></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Title: Fedora Ambassador Netherlands<br>User Homepage: <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Gmzysk">https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Gmzysk</a><br><br>PGP Fingerprint: 4643 E1AE 1AAD 85D4 6276 <br>
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