Mandrake and the commercial license

[Stefano Maffulli]

Il mar, 2002-12-17 alle 14:53, João Miguel Neves ha scritto:
> From the license:
> 
> In a production environment, such as a commercial company, it is highly
> recommended that users purchase a Commercial License Agreement which
> applies to all of the product components developed by MandrakeSoft.

It may sound nave, but I read it this way:
If you use our package and run a business on it, consider an investment
paying us some money so that we can keep developing this useful tool for
you.

Infact, they also state:

	Q. Can I use the Download Edition in my company?
        
        Yes, but for access to support, easy updating and product
                               ^^^^^^   ^^^^
         warranties, a commercial license must be purchased.
        ^^^^^^^^^^
        
        Q. Is it possible to try the Download Edition first, and then
        purchase the Commercial Edition or purchase a Commercial
        License?
        
        Certainly, there is no problem in doing so. Technically
        speaking, the products are identical.
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It may be said that it is hidden, but that seems to me asking a bit too
much from a commercial company... or isn't it?

Their message sounds like marketing fud, but MDK have stated more than
once their loyalty to GNU and the GPL (read their press release about
United Linux, for example).  

> It's the same SuSE does with yast and other tools. I don't see anything
> new or strange in here.

SuSE is a whole different story, yast is non-free software. point.  

bye
stef
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